Drill Here, Drill Now — and Then What?

WASHINGTON - Gustav's approach has shut down a quarter of American oil production in a single weekend. If that does not make the case for producing more energy at home — all of it, oil and wind and nuclear alike — nothing will.

The summer's $4 gasoline did what a decade of white papers could not: it made energy a first-tier political issue. "Drill, baby, drill" is not a policy, but it is a sentiment, and the sentiment is not wrong that a nation which forbids itself to produce will remain hostage to those who can.

The Democratic Congress has now begun to bend, talking of expanded offshore leasing paired with conservation and renewables. Good. The correct answer to a false choice — drill or conserve, oil or wind — is yes.

But let the drilling party be honest too. New offshore oil would not reach a pump for years and would move world prices by pennies. The honest case for drilling is not cheap gas next summer; it is leverage, supply and jobs over decades.

The next president will inherit an energy policy built for 1974. Both candidates know it. The one who treats voters like adults — who says that independence means everything at once, with prices to match — will deserve to win.

RECOMMEND THIS STORY