Obama Pushes Back with Renewed Focus on Energy

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Reveals “New Energy Plan For America” in Michigan

From Senator McCain blaming Barack Obama for high gas prices, to the House GOP’s recent (and ongoing) faux-libuster demanding an up-or-down vote on increasing domestic oil drilling, there’s no doubt that the Republican Party is pulling out all the stops to make oil the wedge issue in the upcoming election.

But speaking today at Michigan State University, Barack Obama revealed his “New Energy Plan For America,” which he said would create 5 million new jobs and eliminate our need for Middle Eastern oil in 10 years.

Obama’s plan would release light oil from the emergency oil stockpile and replace it later with heavier crude. Light crude oil is easier to refine into gasoline than heavier oil. In 2000, President Clinton used a similar tactic to make oil available at a time of rising oil prices. Obama’s new plan would also create a windfall profits tax on oil companies and a $1,000 energy rebate for families (read it here: Barack Obama’s New Energy Plan For America).

Obama’s remarks today in Michigan are part of a coordinated push-back against his Republican opponent. As part of that push, the Obama camp released a new television commercial linking McCain to Bush, Bush to McCain, and both of them to Big Oil.

In his Monday remarks, Obama also pointed to some recent incoherencies found in statements made by John McCain. For example, quoting McCain, Obama said:

“Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long-term about the future of the country.”

And then he added:

“What Senator McCain neglected to mention was that during those 30 years, he was in Washington for 26 of them.”

The quick McCain camp was quick to shoot back, The Los Angeles Times reports. In a statement emailed to reporters, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said: