That was Obama, in his speech on the BP spill.
It may not seem like that big of a statement, but I believe those words were carefully chosen. If I know anything about Obama, its that he believes in the power of words. He personally chooses his words very carefully when writing speeches, and its worth paying attention to his choices. So, to unpack this statement further....
"For decades, we have known...."
This answers several questions. The government ("we") has known about the reality of this situation for years and has not been brave enough to tell the country that we are nearing peak oil(or, as politicians who want to hold onto power would see it, stupid enough to tell the country). Given the overlap between oil industry executives and national leadership (hint: it rhymes with Theney), its not surprising that the government has known this for decades. Still it is shocking when one thinks about the greed behind it: the Bushes and Cheneys would rather protect the profits of their oil brethren than lead the country on a quest for renewable energy. Thus, "decades" were wasted. Also, this may be as clear of an admission as we will ever get that the Iraq War was fought mainly to free up Iraq's oil reserves to plug the hole left by plunging oil production elsewhere.
"....the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered."
There it is folks. The first admission by a president that peak oil is a reality. Sure, it is couched in the most non-controversial language possible. But Obama is telling us the truth here, is anybody out there listening? I didn't see one pundit remark on this line of the speech. I know, I know, I should not raise my expectations that high for our national media. The fact that they are able to string words together and giggle at the latest scandal like 12 year old girls is probably the height of their potential. My apologies for any offense to 12 year old girls with that last statement, I don't mean to compare you with our national press corps.
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