I just saw a McCain ad that explicitly blamed Barack Obama for the rising pricing of oil and gas because of his opposition to opening more domestic drilling. Not only is this a ludicrous accusation, but it is of course a blatant manipulation of the facts.
1) Obama has not been in office long enough to have significantly impacted oil prices.
2) McCain has definitely been in office long enough to have significantly impact oil prices.
3) Opening domestic drilling will not result in new oil production for at least 10 years.
4) Some argue that oil prices will magically drop if domestic drilling is authorized. There's no apparent basis for this assertion.
5) If domestic drilling was so important, then why didn't the Republican-controlled Congress of the 90s pass such legislation?
It seems to me that the correct interim step here is to find cheaper, more efficient, more effective ways to produce ethanol (not just from corn!!), and then require that all US gas-based vehicles support it within the next 4 years. The technology already exists, is not expensive, including conversion kits for gas-only cars. Such a change would require minimal changes to distribution infrastructure.
Refuse to be tricked by the blind political BS that is being spewed during this election season!