That’s right.  The Democratic leadership in Congress is now running so scared on gas prices that they are giving up a battle we have fought and won for America for more than twenty years.   

Now it was bad enough when candidate Barack Obama recently made a rhetorical retreat on this issue, saying that he might be willing to consider some drilling as part of a comprehensive clean energy plan.  While we think that was an unfortunate statement, words alone don’t bring oil derricks to our shores.  It takes an Act of Congress to do that.  

Now we know that recent polls show that, with $4 per gallon at the pump, the public is temporizing – some would say flip-flopping – away from its longstanding refusal to trade pristine beaches and marine life for cheaper gasoline.  But there is this thing called leadership.  Just one year ago, when BP wanted to dump more pollution into Lake Michigan to expand its refinery in Whiting, IN Majority Leader Dick Durbin and Mayor Daley joined environmental activists in raising a hellfire of protest.  Refinery capacity and gas prices be damned; this was Lake Michigan we were talking about.  “This is our Yellowstone,” said Durbin.  And BP blinked. 

But even if the Democrats didn’t have the courage to confront the issue squarely again, they could surely do better than running to do Exxon’s bidding.  It’s not as if the public suddenly believe that drilling is the only or best answer.  Candidate McCain captured the current sentiment more accurately when he said we need an “all of the above” energy policy.  Of course “all of the above” is misguided too, since it includes “dirty,” but it provides an important opening in the debate. 

Now if Speaker Pelosi were being her usual shrewd and bold self, she could have tested this “all of the above” paradigm with a series of votes on strong clean energy measures – like doubling the fuel economy standard, a renewable energy standard that really bumps wind and solar well beyond what the states are already doing, a $1 billion dollar package for expanding mass transit, and so forth.  And then, when the Republicans predictably voted en masse against those measures, their party’s true colors would be exposed:  not McCain’s façade of “all of the above” but the rabid chanting of <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRtuKGS-QXU">“drill baby drill”</a></b> at their convention.  And worse come to worse, Pelosi could have offered all these strong measures in a package with drilling, and watch the Rs tank it all the same.  Not that we’d support such a bill, but it would have perfectly exposed the hypocrisy of the Republicans.  Democrats’ political problem solved, without even one oil slick on our shores. 

But this is not the course Speaker Pelosi has chosen today.  Her conservative “blue dogs” were barking so loudly that she gave them a “drill baby drill” bill designed to become law.  Instead of forcing Republicans to swallow robust clean energy policy, she just included a few chicken bones – like the renewables standard that the House had already passed without any drilling.  And instead of restricting drilling to part of the Southeast – as some early talks had suggested – Pelosi has attached her good name to a bill that opens up practically all of our coastlines to oil rigs.  

Now I’ve got to be thinking that Speaker Pelosi believes passing this bill this will wind up helping the Democrats on election day.  But instead, it’ll be a triple defeat for her party and the nation.  Democrats will be seen as not sticking by their values, and they will lose credibility with the voters.  Seals, pelicans, coral reefs, and beaches will all be at risk from a nearby oil slick.  And the Democrats will have lost control of the energy debate, squandering chances to bring real change on that issue next year. 

So here’s what we need now:  a handful of brave Democrats who are willing to look Speaker Pelosi in the eye and say “you are making a huge mistake.”  It’s getting very late in the political calendar, but it’s not too late yet.