Opinion: Need energy answers, not blame

Senate Democrats think they can exploit President Bush's political vulnerability over high gasoline prices. Maybe they can, but they shouldn't confuse it for a credible energy policy.

It's true, as the Democrats are ready to remind everyone, that former oilmen George W. Bush and Dick Cheney overweighted their energy policy with a reliance on new domestic production, often at the expense of the environment. But the Bush administration shouldn't be blamed for the current price of gasoline.

In fact, high gas prices could help motivate more efficient use of the resource, which should lower demand and prices. That's how markets are supposed to work. So are Democrats saying that gasoline should be kept artificially cheap so we can use more of it? That is not a responsible argument.

With Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich, becoming chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigations subcommittee, Democrats are going to look into oil industry profits. While a legitimate question has been raised about whether oil companies have withheld gasoline to raise prices, oil company profits aren't the problem.

What Democrats should be proposing are real solutions to our energy imbalance. Bush and Cheney gave conservation, energy efficiency and alternative energy sources only token attention in their proposed policy. Democrats should be filing in those gaps, and they can start with improved automobile mileage, especially for light trucks and SUVs. The truth is America is going to have to reduce its burgeoning consumption of a finite petroleum supply or the result will be permanent shortages and high prices.

If Democrats really want to get back into the energy game, they should be talking about how we can be smarter with energy while still promoting economic growth. A quick political gain on gasoline prices and greedy oil companies will be as fleeting as a gallon of gas in a Lincoln Navigator.

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