Acidus wrote:

...in many respects this chart is pure partisan bullshit. The most starkly annoying aspect is the inclusion of US dependence on foreign oil as a percentage of total oil consumption by the party that faught domestic oil exploration in Alaska. You're blaiming your partisan enemy for the inevitable consequences of the policies you advocated. That's as low as it gets.

Let's get one thing straight. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is not going to save our oil-driven asses. The reasons behind not drilling are plain and obvious to anyone who's got two brain cells to rub together. At peak production in 2025, we can expect 876,000 barrels of crude per day. The US currently imports 10,118,000 barrels of crude per day. So, even if our consumption plateaus and no new imports are needed (an entirely impossible scenario, but bear with me), ANWR only offsets daily consumption by 8.6%. Not exactly a show-stopping amount considering the number of species of animals displaced and/or killed by the increased construction in the area, the huge expenditure required to build the pipeline to the Lower 48, and, let's not forget, the inevitability of running out of oil no matter how hard we look. The Dems know that oil is an unsustainable fuel source and see no reason to destroy any more pristine environmental habitats than we already have.

Where Bush has failed, failed, failed on oil consumption is to pass the last energy bill, which raised CAFE, right before he leaves office. He should have been working on oil consumption and fuel prices right away, especially after prices started to climb after 9/11. He could have helped Detroit these last 7 years to change their minds on big trucks that sank their bottom line, but now they're more adrift than ever. With last year's bill, there's hardly provision for enacting the changes, much less after he leaves office. It's too little, too late.

The things that I like about this chart are political but I don't see them as directly related to Bush.

If we're worse of, in any of a myriad of metrics, than when he came to office, it's his fault. What did he accomplish? He lied, lied, lied to us, killing thousands of soldiers in the process, he focused on gay marriage instead of a host of other problems, and he's set the education system back 20 years with No Child Left Behind. He'd certainly take credit if any of those metrics had shown up in his favor, so why shouldn't he take the blame?

-janelane, thoroughly dissatisfied with the last 7 years

RE: Charting various aspects of life of last 8 years