September 30, 2011

If Obama wants a "Nixon goes to China" opportunity, here it is!

Instapundit has this:
NPR: New Boom Reshapes Oil World, Rocks North Dakota. “Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half. And by 2017, investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts the US could be poised to pass Saudi Arabia and overtake Russia as the world’s largest oil producer. Places like Williston are the reason why.”

Wow, I knew it was big, but I had no idea it was that big. But read the whole thing.
It's big! Go big on oil, Obama. It's the new energy economy. Drill baby, drill! Prosperity lies ahead. Make this one yours. Hope and change! Dreams! Dreams of oil! Can't you taste it?!

108 comments:

Fred4Pres said...

When I was driving through western North Dakota last month I could not find a room. Wildcatters everywhere. I eventually found one at Teddy Roosevelt National Park and most of the rooms were rented out the wild catters there too.

This find is...HUGE!

But keep in mind, unlike Saudi Arabia, the stuff just doesn't come out of the ground easy. It is expensive to get this oil. But with prices the way they are it pencils to get it now.

Plus you have far less property owners fighting fracking in ND than you do in upstate New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania opposing fracking for natural gas. Who cares about a rig out on the prairie in the middle of some cattle ranch.

DADvocate said...

What is a migratory bird gets hurt or killed?

sean said...

One of the Volokh Conspirators, I forget which one, with friends who worked as LAs on Capitol Hill, noted before the election that the word among Congressional staff was that Obama was (i) very liberal and (ii) very indecisive. The past three years have borne that out. So a Nixon-to-China moment, on this or any other issue, is very unlikely.

Fred4Pres said...

I like going to North Dakota and killing invasive species like ring neck phesants.

For. The. Fun. Of. It.

Mark O said...

That's the Obama you fantasied about, right? Sorry, dear. He doesn’t exist.

Hoosier Daddy said...

As long as no birds are harmed and no one makes any money, the left should be all for this.

Shouting Thomas said...

Embracing oil exploration and drilling would be a great boon to Obama, but I think he's too committed an idealist to do it.

He really does believe that oil is an evil fluid created by the devil.

Paddy O said...

Two things could help Obama win this upcoming election. There might be more, but there's not a lot more.

1) gas prices drop to about $1.50/gallon or less.

2) student loan debts are either forgiven outright or radically adapted to allow for significant flexibility in dealing with the debt (including bankruptcy)

Both these would immediately put new discretionary spending cash back into the economy.

But he won't do either. He can't. Right now, his best personal hope is the outrageous speaking and consulting fees he can get after he's finished in early '13, which means not rocking the boat of those who have benefited from his governing/corruption.

Carol_Herman said...

Nixon would be the wrong candidate!

You can't be a democrap, let alone the "head person in your party" ... and NOT know that Nixon is NOT a role model!

LBJ is not a role model.

And, Jimmy Carter is not even invited to democrapic parties! He's definitely NOT a role model.

"To be like Bill Clinton" ... Obama would have to pull his penis out of his drawers in public. And, he's not going to do that, either.

That Hillary is like Michelle, and vice versa? What can you do? Some men think their sweethearts won't turn into mean cabbages. Whle the marriages (for political reasons) must go on.

The saud's pay for all our negative oil politicians, anyway. And, they're in both parties. (Maybe, the saud's keep them in separate pockets?)

As to Dubya's wars ... including the one against our freedoms ... that followed the towers coming down ...

All I can say is the TSA is still there ... because otherwise the people who feel inside people's underpants ... are unemployable! Occasionally, a few are stupid enough to steal from passengers. And, they learn in a hurry to read the exit sign.

How do you teach someone to just feel a man's package is beyond me. But it had to be in a power-point presentation ... discussed at length by management.

Someday. Someone. Will make a movie! If Nixon's face is in it, it means Obama's face gets blurry ... because he dithers over everything.

Nixon sets the standard for "bad man, president." He had to wrest the title from Hoover. And, it sticks to the GOP like glue.

Plus, Nixon was WRONG in 1962 (after his failed bid to become governor of California! He said then "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore.") That man couldn't come up with an honest sentence if his life depended on it.

AllenS said...

Do oil wells count as infrastructure? Are shovels involved?

Henry said...

It's almost better than Obama is paying no attention, isn't it? Let him show up to take credit and all his fellow travellers will show up as well.

Some will want to shut down the progress. Others will want a piece of the action. Others will threaten to shut down the progress to get a piece of the action.

Please, Obama, stay away. This need not concern you.

Lucius said...

But--but-- those Dakota plains and hills are needed for wind farms!!

Wind farms! Donors got dibs, right? . . .

wv: soreps What Soros buys

Henry said...

Does anyone else read from the bottom? Often I post, then read upwards to see what others have posted.

And often I scroll upwards and upwards and upwards past a long, many-paragraphed snake of phrases and I realize that I've hit a layer of Carol_Herman.

Then the question is: has she posted once? Or thrice? Or more?

Saint Croix said...

No way. Finding this oil requires fracking--pumping water and chemicals into the ground--and the liberal fear is that the chemicals will get into the drinking supply.

Lucius said...

Obama take a page from Nixon? The longer I live, the more convinced I become Richard Nixon was almost too good for this earth.

Anonymous said...

ROAD TRIP! I'm driving up to North Dakota and dropping my eighteen year old son off at the first available corner in Williston. His college is paid for but the prospect of a good paying job far outweighs the the need or value of him sitting through Humanities 101 at State College. We'll just call it his "Gap Year".

Fred4Pres said...

Henry, you are like a wildcatter looking for black gold and find a pocket of stinky worthless methane (aka Carol Herman musings)

exhelodrvr1 said...

Every once in a while I forget, and start reading a comment without first checking to see who wrote it.

traditionalguy said...

Good test case for Mr 5th columnist himself.

He cannot let the USA recover and start terrorizing the Muslims and the Europeans again.

Hmmm?

Obama will give a speech about energy independence as a cover while the EPA keeps cutting our throats to avoid "Dirty" energy.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... Obama take a page from Nixon?.."

You mean like, resign?

Henry said...

Cedarford is another who writes long copy I mostly don't read, but his stuff is dense and sparsely paragraphed. And he's far less prolific. It's like a pocket of marl in the bore. Hitting Carol_Herman is like tapping a seam of sand.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Obama might be interested, but he won't be able to find North Dakota even if he wanted to go there and encourage economic growth and prosperity (which he doesn't).

After all, those Western squarish states all look alike.

North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado.....eh....whats the diff. Who cares.

coketown said...

In a Dr. Evil voice: Why make trillions in the oil sector when you can lose billions in the green energy sector?

Original Mike said...

"Go big on oil, Obama."

Never happen.

garage mahal said...

Yesterday on Althouse:

"The Obama Administration's hostility to oil and gas exploration is well known, but last week it took an especially fowl turn."

Today on Althouse:

"Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half."

MadisonMan said...

Fracking means water is needed. That should limit things initially until technology solves the problem.

You may not have water from the Great Lakes.

What will happen as the Middle East oil potentates lose influence? That'll be interesting to see.

Lyle said...

I signed an oil and gas lease a couple of months ago.

Next big area (hopefully) is in Louisiana and a sliver of Mississippi. It's an oil play and not a natural gas play. It's hard to get at and the price of oil needs to remain high for it to be cost-effective to produce. It's in a formation called Tuscaloosa shale.

I hope big oil can make it happen.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Henry,
"Hitting Carol_Herman is like tapping a seam of sand."

I think it's more like finding a rock when you're planting your garden. You have to make a quick decision on whether it's a small one, and you can get past it easily, or whether it's a big one, and it would be simpler just to move over a couple of feet and try again.

Lucius said...

I hear the Obama campaign is mapping out a "we don't need Ohio" strategy that emphasizes competing in Virginia and North Carolina.

Hmm, eager to see how that works out!

--You would think, with a billion bucks in the kitty, Obama might humor us with a Nixon '72 look-Presidential strategy, but no . . .

X said...

was the real Bob LaFollette an idiot too?

Scott M said...

"Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half."

Yes, but I'm sure Obama will blame bush for that, Garage. Tar for the course.

Original Mike said...

"You may not have water from the Great Lakes."

I've always said that the one thing that would get me to lay down in front of the bulldozers is if they want to pipe water out of the Great Lakes.

madAsHell said...

Breaking news on NPR??

Breaking narrative, but never breaking news.

Dust Bunny Queen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
roesch-voltaire said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dust Bunny Queen said...

I've always said that the one thing that would get me to lay down in front of the bulldozers is if they want to pipe water out of the Great Lakes.

When you do, be sure to carry your towel.

(@anyone who gets this reference.....NERD!!)

Scott M said...

When you do, be sure to carry your towel and bar of soap.

The single most important piece of equipment one can carry with them is a towel. Don't Panic.

Paddy O said...

"What will happen as the Middle East oil potentates lose influence? That'll be interesting to see."

Indeed. That has been one of my big questions for a while. They've had this amazing historical season, in which a whole region receives a shocking amount of cash for their one resource. It's their moment in the sun. But what have they done with this all too fleeting moment?

Bought lots of stuff from other countries, built lots of large buildings, and made extravagant living a lifestyle for quite a few connected individuals.

With all this influx of cash, though, they seem much more like rock stars glorying in their temporary fame. They still buy their cars from Germany and Italy. They rely on other countries for labor. They have, as far as I know, very little developed industry of their own which could export products. We don't look to them for scientific discoveries, education, or so many other aspects that define more sustaining civilizations. They have oil, and they've traded their oil for cash, and they've traded their cash for extreme lifestyles.

When the oil runs out or we don't need it anymore, the Middle East is going to be forgotten again, some holding onto their money, most falling into poverty. Just like the Middle East before the oil boom of the 20th century.

It's sad, because it really feels to me like this is such an opportunity, call it a gift from God or a gift from chance or whatever, to have all this temporary influx of cash, to help sustain their people for centuries to come with more sustainable industries. But they haven't and won't do it. They're to busy getting caught up in their amusements and religious passions to think about what it will mean when no one cares about their oil anymore.

edutcher said...

This would be like repealing ZeroCare. Especially since, "Drill baby, drill!", belongs to, uh..., somebody else.

He would be admitting he was wrong.

And, like Woody Wilson, he may not always be right (Intercontinental Railroad), but he is never wrong.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... Obama take a page from Nixon?.."

You mean like, resign?


More like LBJ.

roesch-voltaire said...

As oil speculators have driven up the price of gasoline

Those prices have dropped about $.20 where I am.

The one who drove up the prices is The One who ought to be impeached for ignoring several court orders to end the drilling moratorium He imposed.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... we much continue the meme that Obama is trying to damage big oil durning all this profit taking..."

What meme? Obamas own words pretty much make the case. Do you actually listen to what he says or do you just lose yourself in his hypnotic barritone?

Henry said...

R-V you make your point as if it's a bad thing.

You do realize that the U.S. doesn't export crude oil? It exports products made with petroleum.

So let's see how this stands. A stateside company creates a product. Exports it for profit. Employs workers. Pays taxes. Pushes back against the imbalance of trade. R-V hates it.

Do I have that right?

* * *

One great idiocy about our petroleum policy is the restriction against crude exports. Any petroleum that can be put on a tanker and floated somewhere should be. It is incredibly efficient to ship petroleum by tanker. Federal rules about exporting crude oil means we can't export crude from Alaska to Japan by tanker, even though the efficiencies would make it a win-win proposition.

Money is fungible.

Unknown said...

roesch-voltaire --

"As oil speculators have driven up the price of gasoline..."

Speculation.

Paddy O said...

"be sure to carry your towel."

And eat some peanuts... the salt helps you endure the matter transference beam a bit easier.

Original Mike said...

"(@anyone who gets this reference.....NERD!!)"

I guess I'm not a big enough nerd.

garage mahal said...

Wasn't Sunspots Johnson open to drilling for oil in the Great Lakes? We're so lucky to have him.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

@ Scott

NERD! How did I guess you would know.

:-)

Re: Bakkan Oil Fields.

Many of the guys who used to work in the construction trades in our area have picked up in the last couple of years and moved on to work in the booming oil economies.

Many of them have left their families here to hold down the fort since they can't sell their homes in the deflated California real estate market. Some of the guys plan on moving back eventually and don't want to disrupt the kids in school.

Those without children have purchased RV's and hubby and wife are living in the RVs on the jobs in large mobile communities with others doing the same. In the meantime they come home when they can and are making big bucks. It has been a Godsend and financial salvation for many of them.

My husband and both say if we were younger we would do the same thing. Out of California in a heartbeat!!

Original Mike said...

I didn't say anything about drilling. I said you can't have the water. The proposals at the time were to ship it to the desert so they could water their lawns.

If they clean it up and put it back, we could talk.

Jim Howard said...

If one were to list all the ways Nixon grew the government (without mentioning his name) Carol H would have a massive orgasim.

Like most libs, she knows nothing about US history.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... Wasn't Sunspots Johnson open to drilling for oil in the Great Lakes? We're so lucky to have him..."

I suppose as long as folks like you want to continue to drive your Beemers, we probably will have to drill for oil whereever we can find it.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... I guess I'm not a big enough nerd..."

Same. I probably have to turn in my membership card.

The Drill SGT said...

Shouting Thomas said...
Embracing oil exploration and drilling would be a great boon to Obama, but I think he's too committed an idealist to do it.


Wasn't O'bama pro-oil drilling in 2008, then against it after he won?

Expect him to be pro-oil before he gets to Louisiana in -12.

As for the Upper West. He may be an idjiot, but Axel can count and there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of carrying any of those states except CO.

garage mahal said...

Wasn't O'bama pro-oil drilling in 2008, then against it after he won?

Not according to the source of this post.

"Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half."

The Drill SGT said...

Let me be clear.. When I say pro-oil, I mean faux-oil campaign BS.

you know:

"...We need a balanced approach to energy to move the economy forward... the stall on leases, encourage the EPA, grant no permits..."

The Drill SGT said...

GM,

but when were those leases 9on private land) made and the permits granted. I bet they were during the Bush years.

wiki says: New rock fracturing technology available starting in 2008 has caused a recent boom in Bakken production. By the end of 2010 oil production rates had reached 458,000 barrels (72,800 m3) per day outstripping the capacity to ship oil out of the Bakken.

Henry said...

"Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half."

The recession has a lot to do with that. We are comparing production to consumption, not production to a fixed or even a per-capita amount.

I'm not sure what Obama has to do with the production except not stop it.

I do give him credit for the consumption-killing economy of the last two years.

mrkwong said...

Let me put it this way:

$2.50 gas would end the recession and get Obama reelected.

It's still twice what we were paying through much of the Bush years, and presumably enough to support North American energy-development efforts.

So he can stand on principle and join Carter in the history books, or he can get his hands oily and get reelected.

Scott M said...

So he can stand on principle and join Carter

I read that as John Carter and wondered what the hell Obama had to do with Barsoom.

garage mahal said...

Drill Sgt

See this.

Doesn't look like an administration hostile to drilling to me.

Joe Schmoe said...

When I was driving through western North Dakota last month I could not find a room. Wildcatters everywhere.

Hoteliers better start adding on to accommodate all of the EPA lawyers that will be air-lifted into the area any second now. A separate Chinook will be required for all the cease-and-desist orders that will be delivered.

Henry said...

Here's some data

The import line mostly tracks the consumption line up until about 2 years ago. Consumption levels off around 2005 and starts declining around 2007. Imports follow. Starting around 2009, imports continue to decline while domestic production starts moving upward with new consumption.

Joe Schmoe said...

Yesterday on Althouse:

"The Obama Administration's hostility to oil and gas exploration is well known, but last week it took an especially fowl turn."

Today on Althouse:

"Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half."


These are not contradictory points. Obama is definitely against oil even as private enterprise finds more of it. Plus, if these new sources have come online in the last 2 years, that means they were planned and okayed before 2009, which means gasp! GW Bush should be credited with reducing our dependency on foreign oil!

Joe Schmoe said...

"... we much continue the meme that Obama is trying to damage big oil durning all this profit taking..."

I'm usually not a grammar stickler but this post reminded me of Al Sharpton on PMSNBC: Resist We Much

DADvocate said...

Garage - someone mentioned the reality based community earlier today. You should try joining it. Linking to a federal goverment bureacracy website as some kind of proof of Obama's actions, pathetic. You've reached a new low in attempted logic, although I'm sure you'll surpass that low before the weekend is over. Nothing on that website means anything in reality.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/09/obama-energy-crisis-youve-never-seen-it

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Federal-judge-throws-out-Obama-drilling-rules-1927203.php

http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2011/07/house-report-obamas-gulf-oil-slowdown.html

Fred4Pres said...

Nixon sees a tasty bit on Mao's plate and is looking for the opportunity to snag it?

Fred4Pres said...

Our dependancy on imported oil has gone down with less demand, it would go down much further if we had more production at home. And if it got low enough, we might even (gasp) export some ourselves. How crazy would that be!

roesch-voltaire said...

As oil speculators have driven up the price of gasoline, it is now profitable for refineries to sell to foreign markets and it is reported that close to two tankers a day are shipped out from Texas, but yes we must (corrected) continue the meme that Obama is trying to damage big oil durning all this profit taking.
Added Link to list of those involved in oil speculation:
http://www.slideshare.net/lee_fang/energy-holdingswticrudeoil

Fred4Pres said...

I've always said that the one thing that would get me to lay down in front of the bulldozers is if they want to pipe water out of the Great Lakes.

Rachel Corrie.

Scott M said...

R-V

Posting something twice doesn't make it so. J tries it all the time.

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fred4Pres said...

roesch-voltaire, I am not sure what you are saying is true. Of course, if you can sell a product for a higher price (and gasoline is an actual product as opposed to a comodity)--why not? That should not be illegal. But even if price fixing shennangins is going on, it is not inconsistent to promote more domestic oil production and ensure oil companies are not engaged in anti competetive practices.

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fred4Pres said...

Because more production makes price fixing less likely, not more.

Fred4Pres said...

Al Gore: It's Mom's oil stock, not mine!

Al is not just into massage oil.

Henry said...

R-V, its completely confusing what your point is.

1. Oil speculators have driven up prices. Whatever. Anyway, that's not your point. That's your premise. We'll let it slide.

2. Exporting petroleum products is GOOD! Obama deserves credit.

3. Exporting petroleum products is BAD! Obama deserves credit anyway.

Now I'm ready to go with 2, even though the amount of petroleum products being exported is negligible. But, by all means, let's talk it up. Obama's the man!

Somehow, I'm suspicious that you're trying to make point 3, which is self-contradictory.

What is it?

Mark said...

The only question I have is how long before the Feds find some pretext for shutting the oil fields down.

Original Mike said...

"Nixon sees a tasty bit on Mao's plate and is looking for the opportunity to snag it?"

I think he's checking up on his chopstick technique.

Original Mike said...

"The only question I have is how long before the Feds find some pretext for shutting the oil fields down."

My thoughts exactly.

Original Mike said...

Instapundit said: "If I were Russia and Saudi Arabia, I’d be subsidizing U.S. environmental groups in an effort to stop, or at least slow, the process."

What makes Glenn think they aren't already? I'd put money on it.

The Drill SGT said...

roesch-voltaire said...
As oil speculators have driven up the price of gasoline, it is now profitable for refineries to sell to foreign markets



So many conspiracy theories, so little ink...

1. you do realize that many of the entities on your speculator list are end users, and that most have both long and short positions as they attempt to dampen the price swings in their supply chain? Or that large banks have oil desks in their commodities divisions to perform the same function for smaller buyers

2. Oil, or particularly Gasoline, is a physical thing, not electrons, and storing it is very expensive. It's hard to speculate on items that cost millions a month in storage fees that come out of profits. If it were possible, point me to the part of the gulf where Goldman Sachs has those 1,000 super tanks stashed.

3. Those tankers leaving Texas with Gas on board? I bet they were small inter-coastal ships, not supers.

Why? Supers arrive with crude, but might ship Gas to Carribean islands, none of which have refineries. Even Puerto Rico might be a current destination because their ONLY big refinery burned in 2009 and hasn't been rebuilt. 2009 Cataño oil refinery fire

cubanbob said...

Henry said...
Cedarford is another who writes long copy I mostly don't read, but his stuff is dense and sparsely paragraphed. And he's far less prolific. It's like a pocket of marl in the bore. Hitting Carol_Herman is like tapping a seam of sand.

9/30/11 12:11 PM

Sometimes C4 is lucid or at least semi-lucid when he isn't all Jewed-up. His jelly baby J, well thats a whole and higher level of crazy.

cubanbob said...

Only to green-democrat-communists would being self sufficient in oil be a bad thing. I mean who is going to prop up Chavez (and extension Castro)? Or our great friends the Saudis? Who will Obama have left to bow to?
And worst still, what if the Jews discover oil and gas in and of the shores of Zion?

Scott M said...

I mean who is going to prop up Chavez

Judging by the shitty way his cancer recovery is going, someone's going to have to prop him up soon.

The Drill SGT said...

Scott M said...
I mean who is going to prop up Chavez

Judging by the shitty way his cancer recovery is going, someone's going to have to prop him up soon.


He getting that world class single payer Cuban treatment instead of the awful 3rd world US private care?

boy we need some of that great single payer here :)

Peter V. Bella said...

Obama is anti-oil. He wants wind. Blow baby blow!!!!!!

Coming to a government owned car company near you the new wind powered card, the Blowhard. It comes in two models. The Blowhard Obama, with Solydra wind turbines. The Blowhard Algore. The computer software was written by Al Gore using Algorithms, which he invented.

Original Mike said...

"Coming to a government owned car company near you the new wind powered car"

What's not to like?

raf said...

Fred: But with prices the way they are it pencils to get it now.

Usually, I can make sense of this kind of thing, but I'm having trouble here. Pencils = pays would make sense of the sentence, but I'm stuck on the theory of how that particular typo would happen, which is what I mean by "making sense".

Roger J. said...

I think Nixon is sitting next to Chou en Lai, not Mao

Clyde said...

For Obama, fossil fuels = global warming = BAD!

This wouldn't be Nixon going to China, it would be Gore going to Alaska. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Mark said...

High prices now makes cost justification for developing the fields easier. Once the fields are in production, I don't know how much more per barrel costs are from non-shale deposits. My guess is that as the technology improves and as experience working these fields increases, the cost per barrel will drop to near parity.

Fred4Pres said...

raf, "pencils" is short hand/slang for "you can make a profit on it after costs.

Generally someone does a calcuation (usually with a pencil so they can erase and recalulate) of costs, sales price, and if venture is likely to work out (make a profit). If they say it "pencils" that means they figured out a way to make it work. If it doesn't pencil, that means it is highly unlikely a profit can be acheived and the project will not go forward.

The Drill SGT said...

Mark said...
High prices now makes cost justification for developing the fields easier. Once the fields are in production, I don't know how much more per barrel costs are from non-shale deposits. My guess is that as the technology improves and as experience working these fields increases, the cost per barrel will drop to near parity.


hence all those donkey wells out in the California Central Valley, just pumping away, slow barrel after slow barrel at $100 a pop.

Paul said...

Hahahahaha.. Obama go for oil?

No Ann. That dickweed would rather we all become a third world country.

Hope for some change in 2012 cause it can't come to soon!

Unknown said...

Thing is, going big on drilling in the US and killing bad guys in Yemen are things any president would do. Certainly a Repub would do those things!

So Bams gains nothing really.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Building a political economy similar to Saudi Arabia's, Iran's, and Russia's, will be great for American democracy, from a conservative's perspective.

Cedarford said...

Lucius said...
Obama take a page from Nixon? The longer I live, the more convinced I become Richard Nixon was almost too good for this earth
=========================
Funny how it works! My parents as kids said that their parents talked about Harry Truman and how he was the most hated person of their days - the original Dirty Harry "the vile and incompetent little man" he was called. Then Truman got rehabbed when many of his beliefs and decisions proved right in the long run and his foibles were exceeded by later Presidents.
My parents in turn hated Nixon and did not become Republicans until Reagan came along. (My mother dragged us kids along when she went door-to-door for Carter...something she will never live down).

Now Nixon. Compared to JFK, Dubya, LBJ, Carter, and Obama - he doesn't look too bad to me in terms of good decisions and competence.
In terms of morals and "abuse of power" - FDR, JFK, LBJ, Clinton did equal or worse shenanigans.

My own son and daughter are now questioning if JFK, Reagan, and Clinton were over-rated. I see their point on JFK and have to say that I share their view that America is in trouble because of things done long before Bush II and Obama were President. The whole Great Society thing, how we got overextended militarily. And the economic damage that free trade, multinationals free to access the US market while moving jobs out from it under free trade and globalism. And how Reaganomics and dereg of Wall Street were good in some ways, but had real poison to America in the long term..

Maybe when I'm hopefully still around and old....I will learn that the conventional wisdom is that the worst Presidents of the last 100 years were Obama, the woman elected in 2024 with China's endorsement, Dubya, and Jimmy Carter.

And the best are thought to have been Eisenhower, FDR, Truman, Nixon, and the man who whipped Obama in 2012 and started the long painful recovery from 30 years of an America set up to decline..

Sorin said...

Great Photo.

President Nixon is watching Cho eating with his face nearly in his plate. A man of such stature as Nixon, especially with a Protestant/Quaker background, would never eat without sitting erect.

If you have ever shared a meal with some older Asian Gentleman,rarely exposed to Western Culture, you would experience the same table manners.

It’s too bad the photo is not a video so you could hear the sound of eating. What is acceptable in different cultures around the world is an eye opener for some.

reformed trucker said...

Fred @5:24pm

Thanks for the clarification; I thought that too odd a typo.

wv: barsucts... a slow night at the local watering hole.

raf said...

Thanks, Fred. I had never heard that phrase before.

Mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark said...

Ritmo, even for you that was a breathtaking leap of illogic. Why not include Canada in your list?

Oh, right, Canada Good. Must not include Good in the construction of the Straw Man. Gollum! Gollum!

Jim Howard said...

I wonder where Carol would rate the US President who did the following:

1) Pulled us out of a major foreign war.

2) Founded the EPA

3) Founded OSHA

4) Passed the first Clean Air Act

5) Required environmental impact studies for all major federal programs

6) Fought for comprehensive federally funded health care.

7) Instituted wage and price controls on business

8) Fought for passage of the Equal Rights amendment to the constitution.

9) Implemented the first significant federal affirmative action program.

10) Supported the very first Earth Day.

Sadly, Carol, like most liberals, thinks in terms of cartoonish sterotypes and is unburdened by any real knowledge of US History (or Science, or Economics).

Synova said...

"Wasn't O'bama pro-oil drilling in 2008, then against it after he won?"

Garage: Not according to the source of this post.

Althouse: "Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half."

Should I read to the bottom to see if anyone else pointed out that OBAMA is not drilling in North Dakota?

When the economy first hit the shitter with intent you could see unemployment maps of the US and it would show North Dakota as having really low unemployment. To find out *why* a person had to ask a relative from the region.

It's almost like it was done on the down-low.

Does anyone really think that it's not *embarrassing* to all of those who made such fun of "Drill baby, drill!" that they can't say a thing about North Dakota now? The economic impact isn't theoretical any longer.

Richard Fagin said...

Being old enough to have come of age during the first "oil crisis" of 1973 and having spent the last 33 years in and around the oil and gas industry, N.D.'s "big find" is no surprise at all. See, e.g., "King Faisal and the tide of technology", Forbes, Nov. 16, 1998.

The auto makers were once crapping in their pants trying to figure out how to meet emissions standards from the 1970 Clean Air Act, and then, presto, along comes the catalytic converter. When the restrictions got tighter, and the government imposed CAFE standards, presto, along came computer controlled fuel injection.

Technology wins and the doomsayers lose, every single time.

The oil companies have responded to the challenge of "immoral oil" with superb technology. The environmental impact of drilling and production is only a fraction of what it once was, and well prodcuctivity is much greater than in earlier times for any given oil or gas bearing formation. The fact that the average American visualizes oil production in the form of the East Texas field in 1930 is our industry's fault for not getting the message out.

I know what I'm talking about here - check it out:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=0&p=1&f=S&l=50&Query=lrep%2Ffagin+and+lrep%2Frichard&d=PTXT

Gary Rosen said...

"My parents as kids said that their parents talked about Harry Truman"

Oh bullshit, C-fudd was born during the Truman administration.

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Alien Tech said...

We don't look to them for scientific discoveries, education, or so many other aspects that define more sustaining civilizations. They have oil, and they've traded their oil for cash, and they've traded their cash for extreme lifestyles.
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Tom said...

When I was driving through western North Dakota last month I could not find a room. Wildcatters everywhere. I eventually found one at Teddy Roosevelt National Park and most of the rooms were rented out the wild catters there too.
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