[jbooth]

All big lobbies give to both parties.

Obama has quite loudly proclaimed that he wants to take our economy off of oil dependence and onto renewables. He says this multiple times every week. If Big Oil has bought and paid for him, they've done a horrible job of it.

FYI: "I wonder why?" is terrible form. Make a statement and defend it with facts. You're not even arguing anything, just trying to insinuate things that are quite clearly contradicted by the man's repeated public statements.

[anamax]

> Obama has quite loudly proclaimed that he wants to take our economy off of oil dependence and onto renewables. He says this multiple times every week.

He says similar things about "big finance" but his actions are different.

[jbooth]

I'm frustrated too although we did have attempts at financial reform and at cap and trade in the House and Senate. I don't think Obama's the principle person holding them up -- and yes, they're flawed proposals. But he's trying to do something.

Just curious, do you see oil dependence as a problem too?

[anamax]

> Just curious, do you see oil dependence as a problem too?

Which "oil dependence" problem? The US dependence on imported oil or the developed world's dependence on oil?

I don't see imported oil as a huge problem. It's actually a much bigger problem for other countries.

The US is still a huge oil producing country - it just uses more than it produces. It gets the vast majority of its imports from Canada and Mexico, with a significant fraction from South America. If the Middle East went south, the US could survive by blocking exports from this hemisphere.

As to the world's dependence, I don't see it as a huge problem either. It's also a choice - we could have more nuclear power.

[sigzero]

I think "oil dependence" is a hard problem to solve because it is hugely political on both sides of the aisle. Dependence on anything is generally bad. However, a "viable" alternative has to be found as well, which I am sure is hugely political as well.

Sorry about the "I wonder" above...was just being snarky.