Obama urges help with energy costs

COMBINED DISPATCHES

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday pushed for a windfall profits tax to fund $1,000 emergency rebate checks for consumers besieged by high energy costs, a counter to Republican rival John McCain’s call for more offshore drilling in coastal states such as Florida.

The pitch for putting some of the economic burden of $4-a-gallon gasoline on the oil industry served a dual purpose for Obama: It allowed him to talk up an economic issue, seen by many as a strength for Democrats and a weakness for Republicans, and at the same time respond to criticism from McCain that Obama’s opposition to offshore drilling leads to higher prices at the pump.

In linking McCain to the unpopular President Bush, Obama struck a theme from Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 campaign against President Jimmy Carter by asking a town-hall audience in St. Petersburg: “Do you think you are better off than you were four years ago or eight years ago? If you aren’t better off, can you afford another four years?”

Obama primed the crowd by noting new government figures showing 51,000 jobs lost last month and citing 460,000 jobs lost over the last seven months. He tied other bad economic news from the Bush administration to McCain and offered his energy program as one route to relief.

“This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next four months,” Obama said during a two-day campaign swing in Florida. “It will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. Or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills, or even to pay down your own debt.”

In a major policy shift Friday, Obama dropped his opposition to offshore oil drilling, saying he could go along with the idea if it was part of a broader energy package.

Obama made his comments in St. Petersburg, Fla., during an interview with the Palm Beach Post. “My interest is in making sure we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” he said.

“If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage — I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done,” the paper quoted Obama as saying.

The change is dramatic because Obama often pointed to his opposition to drilling as a key difference between himself and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.

“I will keep the moratorium in place and prevent oil companies from drilling off Florida’s coasts,” Obama said in Florida in June.

Friday, he said he was still not a fan of drilling, telling the Palm Beach paper, “I think it’s important for the American people to understand we’re not going to drill our way out of this problem.”

Obama also said, in a separate statement issued by his campaign, that he supported the bipartisan energy plan offered by 10 senators Friday.