Obama tries to oil out of the blame

Andrew Bolt,Herald Sun (Australia)
"..And John Hinderaker fact-checks Obama’s address and discovers it’s as dishonest as one of Rudd’s. For instance, in using this as an excuse to push his global warming agenda and cap-and-trade bill, Obama says:

We consume more than 20% of the world’s oil, but have less than 2% of the world’s oil reserves. And that’s part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean - because we’re running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water.

In fact, says Hinderaker:

This howler is a favorite canard of Democratic politicians. As is so often the case, they are relying on the public’s ignorance. Most people don’t realize that in the U.S., oil isn’t counted as part of our “reserves” unless it is legally available for drilling. Thus, ANWR, to take one of many examples, isn’t counted toward the total “reserves.” The U.S. government could cause our reserves to skyrocket overnight by opening new areas, on land and in shallow water, to drilling. But the U.S. is the only country in the world that has deliberately chosen not to develop its own energy resources. No one else is that dumb.

UPDATE

But Obama, anxious to show he’s in charge, now gives negotiations with BP over compensation and recovery his full attention:

According to a White House schedule, President Barack Obama was slated to attend the meeting for roughly 20 minutes starting at 10:15 a.m. The meeting was still going—though the president had long left—several hours later."