Politics, not principles, behind Pelosi's turnabout on oil drilling

WASHINGTON — Never let it be said that Nancy Pelosi isn't principled. Actually, her main principle seems to be that when politics dictate, give up the principles and go with the politics.

So the speaker of the House has decided that a vote on drilling off the nation's coasts might have to happen despite her year of adamant opposition that was still in place only a few weeks ago before Congress left for its August recess. But that was before it looked as though Republicans were succeeding in tagging her Democratic Party with intransigence in solving the nation's energy problems and before polls clearly revealed a dramatic lessening of public opposition to drilling on the Continental Shelf.

In a weekly Democratic radio address to the nation, Pelosi said the House would consider the expanded offshore drilling as part of a broader energy bill. It was a position that Sen. Barack Obama had earlier adopted in an about-face brought on by skyrocketing oil prices. The soon-to-be officially anointed Democratic presidential nominee also said drilling for oil and gas along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico off of Florida might have to be included in a comprehensive energy policy.

"We hope our Republican colleagues will join in a bipartisan effort, not only to increase domestic supply but also to help consumers and to protect the environment," Pelosi said, as a rotating group of GOP lawmakers continued a daily drumbeat on the otherwise empty House floor to persuade the speaker to call Congress back to deal with the energy problem.

There's nothing like a dose of political reality to move a politician. For years, Pelosi has been catering to a California constituency that was adamantly opposed to using coastal water exploration to help lessen the nation's dependency on foreign oil, citing dire threats to the environment despite technology that has prevented most such occurrences elsewhere. Their argument against drilling included the contention that it would take a decade to realize any real benefit from drilling. As a result Congress did what Congress does best, it dithered for at least two decades as the amount of domestically produced oil declined and usage increased.

Pelosi said she wanted a bill that would combine any drilling with a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to immediately lower gasoline prices and action to decrease speculation in energy futures. Tapping the oil reserve has been roundly criticized as a patch on the problem that in the past has produced little benefit beyond a few pennies at the gas pump.