Call Me A Cockeyed Optimist

For those of us working just blocks from the White House, it wasn’t exactly a surprise that the annual budget released by President Bush yesterday included Arctic drilling. Heck, for people 3,000 miles away, it probably wasn’t a surprise either. Even so, a part of my cockeyed-optimist self wanted to believe last week’s State of the Union was a turning point for Mr. Bush.

He admitted America’s addiction to oil. He announced an Advanced Energy Initiative to help tackle this addiction. And just as we were asking ourselves, “Who is this president?” he released this budget calling for drilling in the Arctic Refuge–again. Same old, same old.

Doesn’t this move seem more like he’s following the ExxonMobil 12-step program? Will drilling the Arctic Refuge really help wean America off our addiction?