In an act that is as symbolic as much of the rigmarole that passes for security in airport check-in lines, President Bush has rescinded a 1990 executive order (signed by the prior Bush) that bans some offshore oil drilling. A 1981 law (signed by Reagan) also bans some offshore oil drilling and trumps the executive order.

Most of the arguments against expanded offshore drilling focus on the time lag: even if Congress were to overturn the law tomorrow, it would be years -- perhaps decades -- before any oil is being pumped, assuming that the estimates of where and how much oil might be found are accurate. And Bush's own Department of Energy says it would be 2030 before "access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would ... have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices."

But there's another, real argument as to why this drilling will not help prices. And that's because there is no guarantee that the firms would sell the oil domestically. As Forbes pointed out earlier this month, oil exports are up 33% this year." (tip)

In the first four months of this year, our oil exports were equivalent to 9 percent of total refining capacity. Because facilities were running at only 85 percent of capacity during that period, the actual percentage of refined fuel is greater. Moreover, April's gasoline exports were the most for any April since 1945, "when America was sending fuel overseas to ease supply shortages in other countries during World War II.

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Seattle's David Horsey responds to the brouhaha engendered by the New Yorker cover. He envisions a comparable fate for Sen. John McCain (without the accompanying expose, however).

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Horsey's cartoon also featured in The Huffington Post and by Andrew Sullivan.

Three tidbits might add up to fireworks in Denver.

First, the latest NYT-CBS poll (pdf) suggests voters are waking up to the fact that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is first and foremost a politician. Most (51%) now believe he "says what people want to hear" which is up from 32% this time last year. The cynicism is much more rampant among whites (57%) than blacks (16%). (tip)

There are similar results from a recent Newsweek poll (pdf, tip).

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