BY OLIVER NORTH

On the Saturday before America celebrated its 224th Independence Day, William the Impeached took a few minutes off from bashing his wife's opponent in the New York Senate race and serving as Al Gore's attack dog, to deliver his weekly radio address to the nation. As he came on the air -- from Philadelphia of all places -- I just happened to be at a gas station suffering sticker shock at what it was costing me to fill up. If you didn't tune in, you missed a real treat.

What message did our beloved leader have for us on the eve of Independence Day? Did he remind us of our founders' heroic legacy? Did he talk about the sacrifices made to make and keep this nation free for two and a quarter centuries? Did he encourage us to defend the rights with which we have been "Endowed by our Creator?" No. Instead, he did what he has done so often before. He lied.

According to Bill Clinton, the high price you're paying at the pump isn't his fault -- and it certainly isn't Al Gore's: "Over the last seven years, with the vice president's leadership, our administration has pursued a forward-looking and balanced strategy that increases both our energy supply and our energy efficiency, saving consumers money and preparing for unexpected energy shortages." Hogwash!

Buying this line requires you to ignore certain realities. First, you must disregard Clinton-Gore Energy Secretary, Bill Richardson, who admitted last spring when gasoline prices were inching up toward today's record levels, "It's obvious that the federal government was not prepared. We were caught napping. We got complacent." Second, you must also be willing to forget the real record of the man Clinton credits with so much "leadership": Al Gore.

On the campaign trail, the VEEP is fond of saying that America's oil companies are "gouging" us at the pump. Once again, reality says otherwise. A year ago, OPEC -- the foreign oil cartel that controls American energy supplies, was pumping crude for about $16 per barrel. Today, because of increased demand and self-imposed production restrictions, that same barrel of crude costs twice as much -- about $32.

Now maybe Ozone Al is so tied into the national teachers' unions that have just endorsed him, that he's confused by the new math. If the oil companies are paying twice as much for crude than they were a year ago, then gasoline prices could justifiably be double what they were last year. But they're not. Truth be told, the price of gas is high because the Clinton-Gore administration has no influence with the OPEC cartel and because -- and this is important -- they want higher gas prices.

In his monumental tome, "Earth in the Balance," Gore extols the virtues of higher gasoline prices as the way to get rid of the evil internal combustion engine that is "... more deadly than that of any military enemy we are ever again likely to confront." Maybe Prince Albert is being driven around in the wrong kind of car. I've confronted some pretty deadly military enemies but my Oldsmobile has never tried to shoot me.

Then again, Al Gore's penchant for conserving natural resources is legendary. He's so concerned about saving water, that in his rental property he doesn't allow his tenants water to flush the toilet.

Knowing that Prince Al's candidacy could well be flushed by skyrocketing gas prices, Bill Clinton bashes the GOP Congress for failing "to act on key elements of our (energy) strategy," and Al Gore rants about "big oil" when his family owns nearly $1 million worth of Occidental Petroleum stock. But neither offer anything but Jimmy Carter's failed liberal mantra of more efficient cars, solar alternatives and billions of tax dollars to subsidize "new" sources of energy.

When Bill Clinton arrived in Washington, America imported 46 percent of our oil. Today it's 56 percent. Instead of trying to fix blame -- we would all be better off if he tried to fix the problem. But maybe that's too much to ask of a man who has spent all his adult life -- ever since he finished smoking pot at Oxford -- being chauffeured around by the Arkansas State Police and the U.S. States Secret Service.

It's time the dynamic duo confessed. The American people are paying the price at the pump because they haven't let us help ourselves. Just this week, Kazakhstan discovered oil reserves in the Caspian Sea estimated to hold 50 billion barrels of oil. Our own Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) holds an estimated 16 billion barrels of oil -- the equivalent of a 30-year supply of Saudi crude. No one's opposed to finding more efficient ways of doing things. But why not drill today for the oil we know we have, give the nation 30-50 years of a sound, stable energy policy while science develops alternatives to oil.

Meanwhile, tell the people the truth. We're not getting "gouged" at the pump, we're getting "Gored."
 

©2000 Creators Syndicate