Deconstructing Barack Obama's Blatant Energy Lies

Gas prices are poised to spike again this weekend, this time by as much as 20 cents a gallon.

And I didn't get to hear President Obama's fundraising energy speech in Miami today, but I do know this much. He deflected blame. He passed the buck. He blamed Bush. He lied. And he demonized Republicans for begging Democrats to unleash America's vast treasure trove of energy.

Obama's main message to struggling motorists was: It's not my fault, so stop whining. The speech only got worse from there, recycling excuses and myths that Obama's peddled for years. But there were some standout whoppers that deserve debunking...:

"We're focused on production."

Fact: While production is up under Obama, this has nothing to do with his policies, but is the result of permits and private industry efforts that began long before Obama occupied the White House... Obama has chosen almost always to limit production. He canceled leases on federal lands in Utah, suspended them in Montana, delayed them in Colorado and Utah, and canceled lease sales off the Virginia coast.

His administration also has been slow-walking permits in the Gulf of Mexico, approving far fewer while stretching out review times, according to the Greater New Orleans Gulf Permit Index. The Energy Dept. says Gulf oil output will be down 17% by the end of 2013, compared with the start of 2011. Swift Energy President Bruce Vincent is right to say Obama has "done nothing but restrict access and delay permitting."

"The U.S. consumes more than a fifth of the world's oil. But we only have 2% of the world's oil reserves."

Fact: Obama constantly refers to this statistic to buttress his claim that "we can't drill our way to lower gas prices." The argument goes that since the U.S. supply is limited, it won't ever make a difference to world prices... It's bogus. New exploration and drilling technologies have uncovered vast amounts of recoverable oil.

In fact, the U.S. has a mind-boggling 1.4 trillion barrels of oil, enough to "fuel the present needs in the U.S. for around 250 years,"...

"There are no short-term silver bullets when it comes to gas prices."

Fact: Obama could drive down oil prices right now simply by announcing a more aggressive effort to boost domestic supplies. When President Bush lifted a moratorium in 2008, oil prices immediately fell $9 a barrel.

As Doc Hastings, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, observed today, the "Obama administration spins U.S. oil product numbers, tak[ing] credit for predecessors' pro-energy policies."

The Obama Administration’s actions have caused domestic energy production to decrease... the White House does not explain that the vast majority of increased production is occurring on private lands, not public.

The slight increase in onshore production from federal lands is due to lease sales approved by previous Administrations—not the Obama Administration... ...The total onshore acreage leased under the Obama Administration in 2009 and 2010 are the lowest in over two decades, stretching back to at least 1984.

...the Obama Administration is attempting to take credit for actions they had nothing to do with. The strong production in the Gulf was due to leases issued in 1996-2000 under the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act – long before President Obama took office... The Obama Administration’s actions, such as imposing a de facto moratorium, are causing energy production to decline in the Gulf of Mexico. EIA shows a 300,000 barrel per day decline in current Gulf production and a projected Gulf decline of over 150 million barrels of oil in 2012.

Obama went on to tout his "green energy" programs, which have turned out to be a massive criminal operation redistribution of wealth from the private sector to Democrat campaign contributors:

In his speech, Obama proclaimed that Americans aren't stupid.

That much is for certain, which explains why they're so pissed off at his blatant energy lies.


Hat tip: Mark Levin