January 20, 2009 can't arrive fast enough so President Bush can retire to Texas. This morning he signed the "energy" bill flanked by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Every bill favored by Reid and Pelosi that purports to help America achieve energy independence will never achieve the goal and is merely one that appeases carbon-counting green kooks.
The legislation keeps the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge closed to oil drilling, does not provide incentives for the construction of nuclear power plants, does nothing to control rising gas prices and will not build the first oil refineries in the continental United States in thirty years. Today, President Bush officially became a total failure in attempting to establish a workable, balanced and sensible national energy policy.
This is an opportunity for one of the five competitive Republican candidates to show guts and leadership. The first candidate to effectively criticize President Bush for his signature on this atrocious legislation and paint him as an eight-year failure on domestic issues, with the exception of tax cuts, can break out.
