America's Energy Future: Pond Scum

Yep, the smartest president in history won't let us drill for our own oil but instead wants us to grow pond scum and magically transform it into fuel (from Morning Jolt):

Er, yay?

President Obama admitted today that he does not have a "silver bullet" solution for skyrocketing gas prices, but he proposed alternative energy sources such as "a plant-like substance, algae" as a way of cutting dependence on oil by 17 percent.

"We're making new investments in the development of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel that's actually made from a plant-like substance, algae -- you've got a bunch of algae out here," Obama said at the University of Miami today. "If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we'll be doing [all right]. Believe it or not, we could replace up to 17 percent of the oil we import for transportation with this fuel that we can grow right here in America."

Great news, guys. All we need to do is figure out how to make energy out of pond slime, and we'll be filthy rich!

Andrew Malcolm has a little bit more on Obama's energy speech:

To underline his commitment to green energy and conservation, Obama travels to an electric car photo op -- in a 17-vehicle motorcade of SUVs.

So, Thursday the president of the United States climbed into his government jet and flew two hours down to Florida to talk at University of Miami student engineers about energy conservation and innovation.

It was, of course, a phony event, an early afternoon official presidential visit tacked on to cover three political fundraisers that evening, two in Miami and one in Orlando, raking in around $4 million. (At the same time Michelle Obama collected more money from two Midwestern fundraisers and Biden did another in New England.)

If the president can claim he's doing some "official" work on these trips, then his campaign need reimburse less for travel on a government plane. (And don't worry, Obama did get to watch the Knicks-Heat game on satellite TV in flight.)

As one White House insider put it, first you book the fundraisers and then you add an "official" event in the same area to justify the travel expenses on the taxpayer's dime. Every incumbent has done it, but this president seems to want to spend as much time as possible outside the White House and Washington D.C. Governing is hard.