janelane wrote:

Decius 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.

I agree with all of that. I'm not saying I think we should have drilled ANWR. Whether or not drilling in ANWR is a good or a bad idea has absolutely nothing to do with why this partisan snip is unfair.

Increased foreign oil dependence is a consequence of not drilling in ANWR. That is a fact.

The cost of drilling in ANWR may not be worth the benefits. It might be a terrible idea. There might be other things that you could have done to reduce foreign oil dependence that you like better. None of that matters. When you choose to make a major public stand to oppose drilling in ANWR, you are deciding that there are other priorities that are more important to you than foreign oil dependence.

It is unfair to later blame foreign oil dependence on your political opponent, when you share some of the responsibility for that, having had other priorities that you also consider more important, and having made a decision to pursue those priorities at the expense of foreign oil dependence.

Where Bush has failed, failed, failed on oil consumption is to pass the last energy bill, which raised CAFE, right before he leaves office.

If Democrats real priority is not reducing foreign oil dependence, but reducing total oil consumption, than why not compare the rate of growth in domestic oil consumption during the Clinton years versus during the Bush years, preferably normalized for changes in GDP? That comparison would be far more fair than either of the measures presented here.

If we're worse of, in any of a myriad of metrics, than when he came to office, it's his fault.

The President of the United States is neither God nor an emperor. Some things are the responsibility of an Administration and it's policies. Some things are not. It is ridiculous to hold up any statistic of ones liking and blame the President without being able to demonstrate any connection between that statistic and the policies of that Administration.

What did he accomplish?

At no point have I made any sort of statement about his accomplishments. I'm not trying to defend his legacy at all. However, I'm REALLY tired of the constant partisanship with which so many people in this country approach politics and I'm not any more impressed with completely unfair oversimplifications when they are lobbed from the left than when they are lobbed from the right.

He'd certainly take credit if any of those metrics had shown up in his favor, so why shouldn't he take the blame?

Because blind partisanship on the one side does not justify blind partisanship on the other. What this country needs now is not a French Revolution style pendellum swing but a return to reason!

RE: Charting various aspects of life of last 8 years