Liberals universally scoffed when conservatives argued for more domestic drilling to increase oil and gas supplies, reduce costs to consumers, and boost the American economy. President Obama called Drill, Baby, Drill ” a slogan, a gimmick, and a bumper sticker … not a strategy,” recalls reporter William La Jeunesse at Fox News.
Dependent on Middle East oil producers, Americans were paying $4 per gallon at the pump back then, and the Obama Administration refused to open federal lands for additional oil and gas drilling. So private landowners and private companies did what the federal government wouldn’t do: they drilled.
Who’s laughing now?
The price of a gallon of regular gasoline on Monday was $2.13 nationwide, and below $2 in 18 states.
Of course [Obama] was wrong. We’ve seen oil prices fall internationally now by half since last June,” said American Enterprise Institute economist Ben Zycher. “The U.S. is now the biggest oil and gas producer in the world, or almost that, and the effect has been to drive prices down as we’ve seen.”
LaJeunesse traces liberals’ energy evolution … from scoffing to claiming credit for today’s low prices … in this report: