Of All Times, Why Not This Time

After the first OPEC oil embargo of 1973 – a time when I was working in the U.S. Senate – I heard one Senator ask another, “Why don’t we develop a long range plan to put America on the road to energy independence right now, so we don’t have to suffer a day when oil is finally running out and the price is going through the ceiling?” The other Senator, a governor before he was elected to the Senate some 30 years earlier, responded, “One thing I’ve learned about politics: you don’t solve a problem before the people believe they have one…(pause for dramatic effect)…because you won’t get credit for solving it.” Everyone laughed. I didn’t. I thought everyone could see clearly we had a serious national problem that needed to be addressed. But the old Senator was right. As soon as the embargo was lifted Americans went right back to buying their gas guzzlers and quickly forgot that a day of reckoning was coming.

Now, it’s 35 years later.

I'm stuck in traffic, every car is at a dead stop. As I contemplate the bumper of the SUV directly in front of me, I realize I can not see over, under, around or through this behemoth. How am I supposed to see brake lights on the SUV in front of it…or the next one?

As I sit in traffic, engine idling, I think about the $4 a gallon I just paid to fill this tank at the local Exxon station. I also begin to recall the pain imposed by that first OPEC oil embargo of October 1973.

That fall, prices rose dramatically and lines stretched as far as the eye could see in some cities as gas station inventory dropped. OPEC members found out they could influence world oil prices quickly, and Americans discovered their government had lost its ability to control the nation’s economic destiny.

So what did we do? We reduced the federal speed limit to 55, extended daylight saving time, and created a large federal agency where bureaucrats still sit and write national energy policies. One after the other. Shelves are full of them.

In other words, we turned a blind eye to the root of the problem, and soon forgot about the embargoes.

As soon as prices stabilized in the ‘80s, Boomers started looking for larger vehicles to transport their families, something that did not resemble their father’s station wagon. Manufacturers responded by putting a truck frame on a new kind of car – the sport utility vehicle. Some could carry an entire soccer team!

Of course, the SUV is not solely responsible for our increased oil consumption but it is emblematic of our refusal to come to grips with a problem that continues to threaten our economy and, indeed, our national security. Since 1973, America has doubled the amount of oil it imports to meet its daily requirements. That is unacceptable to me.

So, what is the answer?

I encourage you to join me in asking Barack Obama and John McCain what they plan to do about getting America on a path to energy independence. I’m not talking about just reducing consumption, I’m talking about true energy independence. Obama has already shown some leadership by refusing to go along with that “gas tax holiday” gimmick proposed by Hillary Clinton and endorsed by John McCain. We don't need more political expediency, we need political leadership!

Obama may our best hope in these times to find a political leader willing to make the hard choices and explain them to the American people without trying to make sure he “gets the credit.”

There are political risks in such decisions, to be sure, but we voters must allow our President and those legislators with the political fortitude to follow him to take those risks without fear of retribution. That last step may be the hardest.

If we, collectively, have the political will to solve this problem, there will be plenty of credit to go around, starting with the voters. Maybe this time, the voters will come to the conclusion they really do have a problem. Maybe this time, our leaders will do the job they should have done in 1973.