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The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama quickly put out a statement in response to President Bush’s lifting of the executive offshore drilling ban.

“If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks. But most experts, even within the Bush Administration, concede it would do neither. It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for thirty years,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

The campaign also called for real solutions to the energy crisis, “Senator Obama believes Americans need real short-term relief, which is why he has proposed a second round of stimulus with energy rebates for working families. And over the long-term, Senator Obama understands that our national security and the survival of the planet demand a real strategy to break our dependence on foreign oil by developing clean, new sources of energy and by vastly improving the energy efficiency of our cars, trucks and our economy. He is ready to lead such a transformation.”

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Polls show that when voters are asked the generic question, do you support offshore drilling most people say yes. However, on the rare occasion that a poll actually asks the correct question, which is do you support offshore drilling if it won’t help the price of oil for 10-15 years? Support for the idea declines.

Republicans are trying to pull a bit of a bait and switch on the voters. They argue that we can solve our energy problems by offshore drilling for oil, but what they leave out is that the oil will belong to the oil companies, not the United States, and that this relief will take over a decade to arrive and will last for 3 years.

The American people don’t like the fact that they are paying so much for gas, but they don’t want to drive less. They are looking for an easy answer. However, there is no painless solution to this problem. I don’t think that Bush, McCain, and the GOP will be able to fool voters through Election Day. Obama has to keep hammering with the fact that offshore drilling won’t solve the problem.

Obama Campaign Statement