Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Nightmare Walkin', Psychopath Talkin'...

Barack Obama has come out with two stunners lately in his attempt to explain his views on energy policy. The second, chronologically, is the most important in terms of what it tells us about him - that he willingfully ignores basic economics in pursuit of the favors of key political interest groups. His criticism that McCain's advocacy of OCS drilling "makes no sense" itself makes no sense. McCain says alot that makes no sense, but his support for more drilling isn't one of them. Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources, and the bedrock concept of microeconomics is the laws of supply and demand. Supply and demand is the fundamental lens through which the energy problem has to be analyzed and discussion of supply and demand has to be the foundation of the debate. That Obama rejects this should disqualify him to attend a meeting of my homeowners association, let alone the White House.

The second inexplicably stupid thing he has said is that he is upset only with the pace at which energy prices have risen, not that they have risen. Thus he expresses his disdain for an increasing standard of living in which more and more people of previosly modest means can achieve: first, freedom from the wants of poverty; second, increased life expectancy; and third, increasing convenience and creature comforts that add to the basic quality of life. This comment reminds me of the parable that stands at the heart of the 1988 movie 'Colors' about gang violence in LA. The parable is first told by Robert Duvall's character to Sean Penn's, both police officers, and told a second time by a transformed Penn to his new patrol partner after the Duvall character's death. In the parable, two bulls, a father and son, stand on top of a hill looking down at a herd of cows. The son says, "Hey Pop, let's run down there and f**k one of those cows," to which the father replies, "No son, let's walk down and f**k them all." Obama's only regret is that he and his radical, anti-free market, environmentalist supporters couldn't walk down that hill.

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