Are the Saudis Getting McCain's Message?

At any moment I expected the great Rod Sterling of the Twilight Zone to pop up to explain the merge of what appeared, on the surface, to be two separate stories. The first is McCain announcing that it is time to reverse the ban on offshore oil drilling in this country. The Senator has been resistant to such for years and his announcement is creating quite a stir. It is the type of policy position that could help him to seriously differentiate himself from Barack Obama.

About the same time we got an announcement from the Saudis that they are considering an increase in production. This comes after President Bush requested such and they informed him it wasn't going to happen. There is legitimate concern that the Saudis have scarcity problems of their own. But now, just a couple of weeks later, they are talking about loosening the pipelines? Do you hear that Twilight Zone music popping up yet?

Ironically, I wrote about this just last Wednesday when I discussed how to lower gas prices in 30 days or less. In that post I stated "A few liberal Senators with a history of opposing drilling in this country, coming out in favor of such" would make a difference in those gas prices. When it comes to oil policy, McCain has acted like a liberal, in my opinion. My tea leaves seem to be reading correctly and this policy is well received, both by conservatives who have demanded energy independence for decades, and independents who are simply trying to make ends meet. Other things we need to see happen to drive down prices are Congress stepping away from lecturing the oil industry and follow up with getting involved in constructive discussions to build a strategy to solve these problems. It is time to solve problems and stop pointing fingers.

It is imperative for McCain to take positions such as this on issues like these if he has any intention of winning in November. He desperately needs to simply get on the side of the rest of the country when it comes to issues of where we feel as though we are being abused by the government. Be it excessive taxes that prevents people from starting or growing a business, regulation that makes it costly to fuel our cars, or policies that simply undermine our personal and economic freedoms. He needs to get on the right side and he needs to do it now. This announcement is an excellent first step in that objective.

Slideshow from the Associated Press.

According to recent surveys on marketing, most advertising attracts sellers (others who want you to buy more ads) and not buyers. Do you want to know why? Email info@HoustonBusinessShow.com and put "marketing audio" in the subject line and we will get it to you.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.