John Kerry has been urging the Bush White House since March to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and start using its excess to help lower oil prices. The White House rejected the idea out of hand.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said…the administration opposed using supplies from the reserve because independent analysts have concluded the impact on prices would be minor and that it is important to have necessary resources in case of a severe disruption in supplies.
But as the DCCC noted last night, that was before the inevitable, pre-election flip-flop.
The White House announced late today that it will provide refiners a limited supply of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to make up for oil production lost to Hurricane Ivan. The announcement came after crude oil prices climbed for the sixth day in a row, dampening investors’ enthusiasm for stocks…. Until today the Bush administration has resisted calls — from airlines, truckers and Democrats — to tap the reserve in hope of holding down oil prices.
In fact, the administration made the announcement just six hours after Scott McClellan said the White House opposed using the reserve. Classic.