Obama Rips Bush’s Oil Policy: It’s ‘Like Admitting Alcoholism and Then Skipping The 12-Step Program’
Obama Rips Bush’s Oil Policy: It’s ‘Like Admitting Alcoholism and Then Skipping The 12-Step Program’
Today in a speech to the Associated Press, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) tore apart President Bush’s “plan” to reduce dependence on oil. Here’s an excerpt:
Now, after the President’s last State of the Union, when he told us that America was addicted to oil, there was a brief moment of hope that he’d finally do something on energy.
I was among the hopeful. But then I saw the plan.
His funding for renewable fuels is at the same level it was the day he took office. He refuses to call for even a modest increase in fuel-efficiency standards for cars. And his latest budget funds less then half of the energy bill he himself signed into law - leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in under-funded energy proposals.
This is not a serious effort. Saying that America is addicted to oil without following a real plan for energy independence is like admitting alcoholism and then skipping out on the 12-step program. It’s not enough to identify the challenge – we have to meet it.
(We’ve obtained the full text of the speech and posted it HERE.)
To learn what a real effort to break America’s oil addiction would look like, check out this report.
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69 Responses to “Obama Rips Bush’s Oil Policy: It’s ‘Like Admitting Alcoholism and Then Skipping The 12-Step Program’”
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why not? that’s been bush’s approach to alcoholism.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:57 pm…Hate to nitpick, but technically, you’d only be skipping ELEVEN steps if you’d already admitted the problem.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:02 pmthe only addiction americans have is walmart. so who again has an addiction to oil? maybe the oil profiteers including bushy. we didn’t forget YOU are the one that has been in business since the 70’s with the shiek and osama, nice try with the spin.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:05 pm…..10 steps left when entering the building,lol!!!!
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:07 pmwhat is so funny about this is that Bush skipped the 12 step program when he “quit” drinking. (reports say he hasnt really quit. perhaps Jesus can intercede and make our Escalades and Hummers get 25 miles per gallon.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:09 pmoh pete and thad beat me to both perfect comments.
the administration’s oil policy really is like admitting alcoholism and skipping the 12 step program - sneaking drinks in no time…
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:09 pmHe also has already admitted step 2 and possibly 10…
2: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
10: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”
Some steps like 1 (We admitted we were powerless over alcohol; that our lives had become unmanageable.), 4 (Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves) , 5 (Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs), 8 (Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all), 9 (Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others), 10 (Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it), and of course 12 ( Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs) will all probably be a LOT harder to check off.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:11 pmHow about we start researching better batteries so we can skip that whole combustion engine stuff?
How bout we actually look for the next thing? Oh, yea, that’s right. Cause bushco’s boys are all energy captians of industry and are raking in the bucks right now.
I predict we’ll start looking for alternatives in earnest on 1/20/2009, the day bush leaves the white house. I’d love for him to be impeached eatlier than that though. This is where agnostics & atheists learn prayer….
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:14 pmIt makes you wonder just how much Obama wanted people to connect oil and Bush’s past..
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:16 pmIt’s brilliant!!
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:19 pmThe fact of the matter is that working scientists in this country can’t get their hands on money to study renewable energy technologies, period. There are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that big business has a controlling hand in our public universities these days (if you don’t believe me, read Jennifer Washburn’s book, University, Inc. The Corruption of Higher Education), but the fact is the money just isn’t there. These guys give lip service to getting off oil, while doing their utmost to sabotage any actual attempts to do so.
The bottom line seems to be that the oil and energy industries hate the idea of a free market and hate the idea of competition. They’d rather keep selling us their dirty products at exorbitant prices, even if young men and women have to be shipped off to die in foreign countries to do so.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:21 pmBush’s energy policy is right in line with his past in the oil industry; with Cheney’s past in the oil industry; with Condi’s past in the oil industry. Is is surprising that these folks take office and oil company profits go to highest-in-the-history-of-mankind levels, while at the same time Halliburton wins no-bid contract after no-bid contract with the federal government. Bush is all for big government, as long as the money is channeled to rich friends and rich companies instead of to the poor.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:22 pmI’m glad to see Obama make this comment, but the question is, will it get any play on the evening news, the talk shows or the front pages?
Or will it be one more Democratic voice crying in the wilderness?
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:23 pmHe cares about children in the same republican way as well with the terrible No Child Left Behind. He is just a liar, plain and simple. Way to go Obama, just keep spelling out the obvious truth in terms the rubes can understand.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:24 pmWith all of his friends drunk on oil profits, Bush can do nothing but give lip service to environmental concerns. He doesn’t care if Greenland melts. Look for BushCo to give the environment the same attention as they gave to Katrina victms.
50 Ways To Dump The Dubya
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:28 pm#13 As we can see, the blogs are picking up a lot of where the media leaves off. I print stuff out for those I know without internet. I’ll admit though, for most of the people I am around, especially my close friends, it is preaching to the choir.
Although, my brother manages a company that has MANY people working for him and above him. They are as red as it comes, but are totally disgruntled with the war and the tax cuts for the rich. Apparently, poor folks don’t think it is such a great idea and the admin couldn’t quite spin that Jesus wants it.
So, that leaves them starving for information. I will feed them. It is doing wonders just with education. I don’t have to tell them how to vote, when the truth is put in their faces, they understand. Bill Frist is as good as dead here in TN.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:29 pm#5
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:32 pmI thought the same thing when I read it. I don’t know if that was an intentional jab at the prez but if it was it was nicely placed like a political kidney punch in a crowd.
Zing!
Add this to his comment about Lieberman’s unpopularity being “the elephant in the room” and Obama is definitely getting in his digs these days.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:33 pm#2
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:35 pmStep one is admitting the problem….but when you don’t MEAN it I don’t think it counts. If an alcoholic says to his family “I am an alcoholic” just to get his family off his back hasn’t really done step #1.
“It’s ‘Like Admitting Alcoholism and Then Skipping The 12-Step Program’ ”
Wow, that sums up GW nicely doesn’t it?
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:41 pmthe only addiction americans have is walmart.
I’ve never been in a Wal-Mart but I’m guessing the sell a lot of plastic products that are made from petroleum products.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:43 pmAren’t we use to this by now? From day 1, in 2001, they have operated this way.
These guys say one thing for public consumption, and do whatever.
Really, seriously, what positive has come from this administration? Not the propaganda stuff either. Are we better today than we were before Bush? And heck, he can’t take all the blame, the Republican controlled Congress - Delay, Hastert, Frist - has done it’s share.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:45 pmIt is better to curse the darkness than it is to light a candle.
A grain truck loaded with fifteen thousand pounds of grain, about ten acres at twenty-five bushels harvest of wheat per acre, gets about five miles to the gallon. That’s just the truck to haul the grain. You also need a tractor and a combine. Agriculture goobles up a lot of oil.
If you want to eat, there must be auxillary inputs such as fertilizer, diesel fuel, gasoline, natural gas, gasoline to get a crop of wheat or barley. I would hate to go without beer.
Otherwise, draft horses will have to do the job. Steam power works too, but you must have coal.
Without natural resources, the goose is cooked.
Can’t live without them. It is how they are used that is the problem. I do advocate the limited use of individual motorized transportation. The Chinese don’t seem to care, either. They’re buying cars at a rate of twenty thousand per week. The Chinese economy will be the first to go. All of those new buildings in China are called ’see through’ buildings because they’re built so shoddily, nobody wants to occupy them.
If nuclear power could somehow be harnessed for agricultural production, the earth would have less pollution and a greater carrying capacity.
Some kind of robotic engine and machine has to be in the works these days.
John Deere isn’t going to go away.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:47 pmthe only addiction americans have is walmart.
Comment by bs — April 3, 2006 @ 3:05 pm
That’s hysterical… and nauseating all at the same time.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:47 pmzzzzzzzzzzt!
The answer is: He doesn’t care. He runs a government of, by and for people who don’t care, testing whether a government so conceived can long endure (compliments to ALincoln). He never considers the possible unintended consequences of his actions and he’s not going to start now. He does whatever is politically expedient at the time.
He has no idea how much investment of time and or money is necessary to get a huge national economy to change its energy policy. But, he does know that lip service carries him through another crisis for a day or week, or however long he can ride it, or until some other opportunity or crisis comes along.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:49 pmIt’s ‘Like Admitting Alcoholism and Then Skipping The 12-Step Program’
Uh, that’s exactly what Bush did with his own, literal alchoholism.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:50 pm.
I think Bush meant what he said in his speech.
And then all of the Big OIl Business Money called to remind him why he should change his mind.
Bush is a hand puppet doing the bidding of his pimps in the Oil Industry. That will never change during his reign.
And, in fact, I’m little surpised a guy as sharp as Obama would even say that he fell for it. Even if he knew better.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:52 pmAmazing what passes for big news. This guy gets up there and basically states the obvious and it comes out as something exceptional or something ground breaking. This kind of common sense straight talk about BushCo’s failures should be a daily occurence. Certainly issues/examples abound.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:59 pmI can’t wait till this train gets a full head of steam… buy your tickets now for the Obama Express.
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:00 pmDubya Bush is owned by the Big 5 Oil Cartels, so it is not possible for him to wean the US off petroleum dependancy! Like everything else George just lies about alternative energy development!
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:05 pmOff topic, but has anyone heard any of the Right-wing nutjobs that slammed Jill Carrol retract any of their statements about her and apologized?…….
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:08 pmDubya Bush is owned by the Big 5 Oil Cartels, so it is not possible for him to wean the US off petroleum dependancy! Like everything else George just lies about alternative energy development!
Comment by Jay Randal — April 3, 2006 @ 4:05 pm
He lies about a lot, but I think he wants to leave a legacy. For a brief moment, the absent-minded dictator forgot who owns him, and decided, on the heels of failing at everything else, to try this. As usual, he didn’t think through the ramifications of it, and got spanked.
So, now, his legacy will be pretty much appearing whenever anyone does a Google search of his name.
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:12 pma Google search of his name.
Comment by unbelievable — April 3, 2006 @ 4:12 pm
Blew my own punch line! Meant: a Google search of the word ‘failure’
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:14 pmWhen Clinton was president, one phrase that he often used was “I believe this is the best thing to do” when he was referring to policies he was implementing or trying to get Congress to implement. And I usually felt that Clinton genuinely was trying to do what would overall benefit the general population the most. I NEVER, EVER get the feeling that Bushie is doing anything because it is the “best thing to do” for the general population. He always serves special interests only. And for Dumbya the richer the special interest the better.
Right on Obama for pointing out the lip service.
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:19 pmSpeaking of Bush’s 12-Step program…
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:26 pmi saw a clip of him speaking, while in cancun i think…
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:31 pmit was horrible, painful to listen to…i swear he was smashed…
wish i could remember exactly when/where…seems vicente was
next to him…press conference? anyone remember this?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:47 pmBUSHCO = LIARS
o my - i meant W - i saw a clip of W speaking, smashed…
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:00 pm#38….
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:05 pmI’ve noticed that the various heads of state which Dumbo has been meeting with these last few months all seem to be standing next to him with a slight sideways tilt away…. there is also a (shared) look of askance and an oh so slight upturn of lip on their faces.
It’s exactly the look Joe Cocker gave John Belushi as Belushi aped Cockers performance of “With a little help from my friends” one Saturday evening long ago…….(WHAT are ya DOIN’ man?)
It is embarrassing and humiliating for me as an American to see the leader of this country look like a bad carnival act.
Katy #38, I thought the same thing…he was even more incoherent than usual, he had his shirt unbuttoned at the neck, and he just looked and sounded drunk! Yeah, he was with Vicente, maybe at the Cancun conference?
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:05 pmInteresting is the timing of his jaunt to Cancun, Spring break anyone?
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:14 pmPerhaps his hosts misheard him…… ‘Keep the migrants working came out as ‘Keep the margaritas coming’
On topic, the oil companies own many of the patents for no gasoline cars, including alchohol engines etc. Does anyone think they purchased the patents for safekeeping?
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:19 pm[…] Permalink No Comments so far Leave a comment TrackBack URL Leave acomment […]
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:30 pmDon’t you think that your headlined quote was an indirect slam against Bush and his so-called alcohol-free life?
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:39 pmHe says he gave up the drink, but never joined AA. He gave up the coke but never entered counseling.
A salute to Obama for making a subtle point in his speech about oil dependence. It’s fitting after Bush declared that we are addicted to oil.
P.S. I am not convinced Bush has given up either alcohol or drugs — he has too many symptoms and mannerisms indicating otherwise.
Now if only Obama would rip Lierberman…
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:46 pmwell, i’m not real handy with this stuff - looking for some video of that news conference - you were right, jane, shirt unbuttoned - remember the “making sausage” remark? sheesh…
April 3rd, 2006 at 6:31 pmbut here is a clip with part of his slurring…video is on right of page…
still looking - i found a link on c-span, but can’t seem to open it - even after downloading “the latest version of reap player” as directed…help? anyone?
#47 gideon
April 3rd, 2006 at 6:50 pmActually, last week when Obama spoke at a Dem party affair, he did note (referring to Lieberman) the “elephant in the room.” Political double entendre?
Katy and Jane,
April 3rd, 2006 at 6:59 pmI, too, looked at the video and I agree that his speech was not clear (well, it’s never really clear) but it was as though he had a thick tongue.
My husband said in another film from the same visit, Bush looked like he was concentrating very hard to keep his balance as he, Fox and the Canadian PM were walking on some steps. I also saw a photo of him and Fox and the Canadian PM and Bush looks again like he had a square box in his pocket. Curious.
Obama on Bush’s oil policy…
From Think Progress:Now, after the President’s last State of the Union, when he told us that America was addicted to oil, there was a brief moment of hope that he’d finally do something on energy. I was among the hopeful….
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:04 pmAll right, all you folks. No drunks on the thread.
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:16 pmawwww gee, purvis…that’s kinda hard to do when the thread is about bush’s oil policy…
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:19 pmHow about twelve steps for the radical left to return back to reality:
First: STOP having victory parties in April. The election is in November and you should wait to win first. If not, the radical right will laugh in your face…. again. (AND this time you’ll really feel dumb if you’re wrong).
Second: STOP talking about energy when you have absolutely no plan. At least the GOP is willing to kill women and children for oil as well as rape mother earth. Liberals sit back and enjoy the fruits of that hard work while fighting tooth and nail to reduce energy independence on the Middle East.
Third: ENOUGH with DieBold and Florida. NO one cares. Stop feeding red meat to your base through race baiting hatred.
Fourth: ENOUGH with Hitler comparisons. It’s DISGUSTING to most Americans and provides the radical right hours of great ads in (blood red) states like Missouri and Montana that Democrats have to win to take back the senate. Red state folk don’t think Bush is Hitler.
Fifth: Put a muzzle on Gore, Kerry, Pelosi and Howard Dean. Let Obama, Mark Warner and Janet Nap do the talking. People like you should be put in the kennel (or kiln since you all think Bush is Hitler) where you can’t hurt Democrats.
Sixth: Poll numbers showing Bush and the GOP in the tank do not necessarily equate to a 1994 style takeover. Develop an agenda (a positive one, if possible) and provide an alterantive other than sheer hatred for conservatives.
Six more after this sends all of you into a tizzy. But I’d bet you $$ this would work.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:58 pmSix more after this sends all of you into a tizzy. But I’d bet you $$ this would work.
Comment by Twelve Steps of My Own — April 3, 2006 @ 8:58 pm
Wow! What a tizzy you’ve got going here… maybe next time nimrod?
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:29 pmNot really OT
In 1959- The Allis Chalmers company produced this experimental tractor (I’m an antique tractor buff)
http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=223
Note that it had enough torque to plow a field! Why wasn’t this technology ever advanced? Perhaps the same reason we are at war today?
Bush acts like alternative energy was just discovered. And he obviously isn’t serious about it anyway.
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:43 pmI should have said seriously advanced in automobile applications.
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:56 pm#1
You nailed it.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:25 pm#54
Thank you, some very good points there. Lets not drop the ball here folks.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:46 pmI read Obama’s transcript that ThinkProgress provided, and Obama clearly lays out suggestions in which Americans can help out, how private owners and investors can participate, and then he laid out his own legislation to kick it off:
I’m trying to understand where it is that Obama overlooked in this brief report.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:48 pm#56,
I knew it, my Mom was right about how any and all attempts to have alternative energy sources were squashed by oil companies, for a very long time now.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:49 pmOh wait, I didn’t get the title. Ok, my bad. *wink*
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:50 pmOh yeah WiscoDuck, it would be great to have you here in Arizona, but man, I gotta tell ya, watch out for Arizona, if you havn’t, do some research. Peace.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:52 pmGood for Obama saying the truth about King George Bush II on his phony energy policies, but will Barack continue the attack, or back off and apologize for his remarks like many Dem Senators tend to do?
April 4th, 2006 at 12:42 amIt’s the Leaving Las Vegas solution to oil addiction: Binge and die!
April 4th, 2006 at 1:15 amI made up my mind during America’s sentence under the bush NOT to believe a single word out of the bushs’ lying trap! Never have and never will!!! I have never once believed anything the bush has said! I DO NOT BELIEVE A LIAR or an illegal white house! He didn’t win the first election and some how scammed election 2004! Whose investigating these crimes??? Anybody? NOBODY!!!
iS ANYONE GOING TO HOLD THE BUSH ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY???
April 5th, 2006 at 4:50 am[…] And it seems that Senator Barack Obama agrees with me according to his speech on the “big oil” problem today: Think Progress - “Now, after the President’s last State of the Union, when he told us that America was addicted to oil, there was a brief moment of hope that he’d finally do something on energy. […]
April 6th, 2006 at 11:46 amThe good Senator is a helluva lot nicer about this than I am. I wish this guy would toss his hat into the ring for ‘08.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:51 am[…] And it seems that Senator Barack Obama agrees with me according to his speech on the “big oil” problem today: Think Progress: […]
April 6th, 2006 at 12:02 pm[…] Now, go Google the phrase “Mobil profits” and see what you find. And here’s a repeat of Senator Obama on Bush’s oil policy… Now, after the President’s last State of the Union, when he told us that America was addicted to oil, there was a brief moment of hope that he’d finally do something on energy. I was among the hopeful. But then I saw the plan. […]
December 4th, 2006 at 6:28 amgrants from the federal government
Hey. I just dropped by. I’ve gotta say, you have nice site! You need to visit my womens government grants for small business site sometime.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:32 pm