Obama Energy - Oil Dependency

During his first presidential run, Obama indicated that dependency on foreign oil poised a terrorist threat (see HERE), and he also said, "that's why if I am president, I will put the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector behind a single, overarching goal -- in ten years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela." (reported HERE)

Wouldn't that have been great?

Perhaps reality set in once Obama became president because we later find the following revised commitment: "President Obama has charted a course to cut net oil imports in half between 2008 and 2020, lowering imports by 5.5 million barrels per day and reducing our reliance on foreign oil to its lowest level in almost three decades." (See HERE)

According to Obama's energy website, U.S. dependency on foreign oil is at a 20-year low and declining. And, during the presidential race in 2012, an Obama ad claimed: "For the first time in 13 years, our dependence on foreign oil is below 50 percent," (See HERE)

This all sounds fantastic, doesn't it?

However, regarding dependency on foreign oil, left-leaning politifacts.com reports: "Yet this decline in dependence has occurred since 2005. Team Obama is correct in saying dependence only recently -- in 2010 -- fell below 50 percent, but the commercial suggests that the current president deserves credit. The problem with that is apparent when looking at the year--to-year drop, because it mirrors the recession, with the biggest annual decline in 2009." (See HERE)

And, "Domestic energy production has been increasing because high oil prices make it attractive and profitable to do so." (See HERE)

In other words, most of the decline in dependency occurred during the Bush administration, and the decline wasn't due to efforts on Obama's part--contrary to his claim, but due in part to the recession and rising prices that made domestic oil more competitive. (See HERE and HERE)

"Of more interest is the fact that although the amount of foreign oil has declined, it has grown as a percentage of our overall supply. During the Obama Presidency we have become more dependent on foreign oil, not less!" (see HERE and HERE) "Foreign oil dependency rose from roughly 37% to 40% under his administration. To be more precise, foreign petroleum usage in his administration went from 37% to a peak of 41% last year, currently at 39.9%." (ibid)

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For an explanation as to why these Leftist energy LUNCs occur, please see: Gov: Wrong Tool for the Right Job - Introduction and Cold Nanny as well as The Politics of Compassion, Emotions, Ignorance, Denial, Blame-Shifting, and Victimization