Happy Energy Freedom Day! ... Uh, Where's The Party?

Today, the ban on most coastal drilling has officially expired. Conservatives planned to claim this day as "Energy Freedom Day." [1] But the celebration seems awfully quiet. [2]

Conservative politicians, who went into a "Drill, Baby, Drill" frenzy all summer, got exactly what they wanted. Yet they don't seem interested in bragging about it.

For example, in the presidential debate Friday, Sen. John McCain urged "we also have to have offshore drilling" [3] as if congressional leaders hadn't already announced that they were going to let the ban expire.

Why might that be? Maybe because letting the ban expire is likely to expose the emptiness of the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" slogan.

They said would we pay less immediately.

They said we could get the oil in months. [4]

They said that merely showing we were serious about drilling would prompt the oil markets to cut prices.

They said merely talking about drilling on the House floor in August already caused a drop a prices. [5]

But in fact, on the day it was clear that the ban was dead, the price of gas only dropped a penny -- and it still remains more than double of what it was eight years ago. No "psychological benefit" [6] as was promised.

When nothing happens right away, Big Oil's buddies don't want people to know their arguments were bankrupt. So they don't want people to even know that their "Drill, Baby, Drill" energy policy is now in place.

And the excuses are already coming. Check out my recent bloggingheads.tv segment with the Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll: [7]

So "Happy Energy Freedom Day." Go celebrate and buy up all that cheap gas lying around.