Two days ago a remarkable thing happened and apparently no one in Hawaii noticed. The Honorable Neil Abercrombie, Congressman for Hawaii's 1st District here on Oahu, appeared on Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume and did what no Democrat has dared to do for a very long time.
Abercrombie called for the federal government to grant permission to the oil companies to drill for oil and gas in lands that are now, and have been for some years, strictly off limits.
This means drilling in coastal waters off California and Florida, and probably in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. When the reporter suggested that if drilling started now it would still be years before the oil would reach the American market, the Congressman replied that is a good reason to hurry and get started.
Wow! This is a flip flop of gargantuan proportions. The Democrats finally, after years of blocking the development of domestic oil and gas, are admitting they were wrong! Wrong all along. Wrong about sending hundreds of billions of dollars to Arab states to pay for imported oil instead of developing our own known resources. Wrong about a lot.
But this story has no legs in Honolulu. No editorials from the newspapers with an opinion one way or the other. No stories in the papers on the local news. How sad that the news reporters in this city missed a really big story.
Abercrombie and his eager statement are a trial balloon for the Democrats. In the days ahead you will hear the leadership in both the House and Senate agree that now is the time to drill. I just hope people remember that it is because of the Democratic Party's idiotic "no drill" policy that we have arrived at gasoline prices of $4.35 per gallon.
Steven Lazzerini, a resident of Hawaii Kai, Hawaii, can be reached at mailto:sjlazzerini@yahoo.com
