I have a theory about Bush’s now-famous utterance — “‘America is addicted to oil’ and must break its dependence on foreign suppliers in unstable parts of the world” — which I wrote about here four hours before his Tuesday SOTU.
As you all know, parts of Bush’s speeches are “subtext” that mean something to his ‘winger Christian friends, not to us.
What if Bush’s famous phrase about our oil addiction had NOTHING to do with making Americans change their energy consumption — because, as we really know, he’s as interested in oil conservation as we are in tax breaks for the rich — and it instead had EVERYTHING to do with sending a “subtext message” to the Middle East? That he was trying to freak out the Saudis, the Iranians, etc., hinting that we in the U.S. will find a way to fuck them over, and leave their source of wealth in the dust? After all, they’re as dependent on us as we are on them. If they THINK we’re not going to need them, they may panic and act differently. This theory is obliquely alluded to in this news headline from today’s Democracy Now!:
Bush Administration Says Mideast Oil Pledge “Purely an Example”
Just one day after President Bush drew headlines for pledging to reduce the country’s reliance on Middle Eastern oil by 75 percent by the year 2025, two top administration officials said Bush’s promise was not meant literally. In a conference call with reporters, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told reporters the President was giving “purely an example” when he spoke about making dependency on Middle Eastern oil “a thing of the past.” Bodman, speaking alongside Presidential adviser Dan Bartlett, said President Bush really meant that alternative energy could take the place of the amount oil the US is expected to import from the Middle East in 2025. An administration official told Knight Ridder the President used the words “the Middle East” only so he could illustrate the issue in way that “every American sitting out there listening to the speech understands.”
I can’t wait for all the blogger “oil experts” to tell me I’m just “silly.” But what better way to put the Saudis, Iranians, Iraqis, etc. — especially those Iranians with a penchant for fabulously insane rhetoric but who depend for gas imports (at 50% per annum) — ON NOTICE that they’d BETTER PLAY NICE. Or else. Hit ’em where it hurts: In a drying up of revenue streams to their Swiss bank accounts. And today’s clarification reported by DN!? Merely a further clarification — intended for the MidEast powers-that-be — of how Bush is (at least theoreticallly) threatening their strongholds and their money sources.
Look back at the first paragraph quote. “…in unstable parts of the world …” That’s a WARNING to the MidEast to crack down and get its renegade extremists UNDER CONTROL. Now. Otherwise, we have all the technology we need to leave you in the sand.
