From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Originally published Wednesday, Aug. 6

The change in position by Sen. Barack Obama, the putative Democratic nominee, on tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and allowing offshore drilling is one more episode in a sad political dance around the gas pump.

… Given the centrality of the fuel price issue for Americans, both Sen. Obama and the likely Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, feel compelled to address the problem.
Mr. McCain takes the oil company line, speaking to their fondest remaining wish, drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Mr. Obama was opposed to both, but now may be weaseling a bit in his position on offshore drilling. Last week he said he could support some offshore drilling if it were part of a compromise energy package.

… Drilling offshore and building derricks among the polar bears will have virtually no effect on the price of oil for years, if at all. Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve might shave a few cents off the price of gas, but it won't last. What would be significant is a national policy of energy conservation and substitution, producing a drop in demand for oil.

Our politicians should have the guts to say that and mean it, rather than let the oil companies call the shots as they have under the administration of oilmen Bush and Cheney.