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Where was Obama’s judgment in 2005?

By NewHampster on March 12, 2008 at 12:42 AM in Barack Obama, Bush/Cheney, Energy Policy Act of 2005, Hillary Clinton

Also posted at MyDD.com.

Where was Obama’s judgment in 2005 …

when Hillary was voting against Cheney’s Energy Bill?

  • Barack Obama voted Aye on the committee reports.
  • Barack Obama voted Aye on the conference report.
  • Barack Obama voted Aye for the 2005 giveaway to the Oil and Gas Industry.

Where was Barack Obama’s judgment in 2005?

Hillary Clinton voted against the giveaway for Cheney’s friends.  She was among a handful of senators who understood that this bill would take us in the wrong direction.

One of the great selling points was the credits for investment in new refineries. Do you see all that new construction that is helping to lower the price of oil? I didn’t think so.  This was a scam just like most government programs that supposedly “work with” big oil.

And where was Barack Obama?

He was taking care of the Coal Industry in his home state of Illinois.  Now it’s all well and good for senators to help their state.  That’s politics as usual.  And maybe he was even trying to preserve some coal mining jobs. That’s also Politics as Usual.  But give me a break.  This is the bill that has lined big oil’s pockets with billions and billions of our dollars while doing nothing to help our energy independence.

Matthew Yglesias takes a critical non-partisan look.  It’s worth a visit for the Obama supporter comments.

Last night, Hillary Clinton called the 2005 energy bill that Barack Obama voted for the “Dick Cheney lobbyist energy bill” citing its “enormous giveaways to oil and gas industry.” Washington Post fact-checker Michael Dobbs says she’s wrong, but in the real world she’s right. I assume Obama was more swayed by giveaways to coal interests — Illinois is a coal-producing state and before his presidential campaign geared up he was trying to grope his way toward a coal-friendly environmentalism before eventually, and rightly, giving up — than to the oil and gas industry, but it was still a bad bill and a fair tag.

I don’t know about you but I’m kind of pissed at people like Barack Obama every time I fill my gas tank.