Pelosi Admonishes Bush to 'Free Our Oil'

Like a war protester mouthing a sound byte for the masses who watch the boob tube with glazed-over eyes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admonished the Bush Administration on Thursday to 'free our oil.'

Is the oil being held hostage? Is it enslaved somewhere by the wicked Pharaoh George W. Bush?

Pelosi, of course, was speaking about the nation's strategic oil reserve, the back-up supply of energy the government keeps on hand in case of a national emergency.

A few facts stated up-front are in order.

First, releasing some of the reserve will not effect prices at the pump one red nickel.

Second, the oil in the reserve is not meant to be used as a means of addressing market issues to begin with. That oil is held back in case the nation is hit unexpectedly with a true national emergency of catastrophic proportions, such as a massive terrorist attack, a natural disaster of mega-proportions, a total cut-off of oil from our overseas suppliers, etc.

Third, if the oil in reserve is tapped for non-emergencies, it could severely hamper our ability to address the nation's oil needs in the midst of a real crisis.

Pelosi knows these things.

The only reason she brought up the 'free our oil' mantra was to take the focus off of her obstructive stance in blocking attempts by the GOP and the President to get the nation off its duff and start drilling here, now.

Pelosi as Speaker of the House has single-handedly prevented any proposal to lift the Congressional ban on offshore drilling from reaching the House floor. Thus, in her obstructionist tactics she is to a great degree responsible for the failure of this country in addressing its oil needs in the short-term and medium-term.

Releasing some oil from an emergency reserve does nothing at all to address the need. But Pelosi hopes that the mantra, 'Free our oil,' will gain some traction with the zombies of the far-Left who will mouth off the mantra on cue.

Privately, a few more level-headed Democrats say off the record that the reason Pelosi blocks attempts to bring the bill to lift the ban on offshore drilling to the House floor is that she is afraid of being embarrassed by defections within her own Party.

Apparently more than a few Democrats are willing to jump ship and vote with the GOP to start the drilling now.

It will be interesting to watch to see which is more important to the Speaker: to relent and allow the country to address a problem prudently, or to continue to obstruct and thus drag the Democrats down with her as she sinks the Congress to a new low in public approval.