Obama Hiccups; Grist Rushes to Transcribe 0

Obama slams Bush admin for inaction on America's oil addiction

Sen. Barack Obama, progressive golden boy, rebuked the Bush administration yesterday for being all talk, no walk on curbing oil use. When President Bush said America is addicted to oil, "I was among the hopeful," said the Illinois Democrat. "But then I saw the plan." Obama said the administration's failure to boost funding for cleaner fuels, resistance to increased automobile fuel-efficiency standards, and inertia on fighting global warming amount to "admitting alcoholism and then skipping the 12-step program." (Uh, he knows Bush actually did that, right?) Obama called for the U.S. to cut oil imports by more than 7.5 million barrels a day by 2025 and touted a $100-per-vehicle tax credit to cover the costs of installing flexible-fuel tanks, allowing cars to burn corn-based ethanol-blended fuel. Obama also wants the feds to pick up some of Big Auto's huge health-care costs, as long as the industry promises to spend the savings developing greener cars.

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