With oil prices hitting voters, Obama budges on offshore drilling

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — With soaring fuel prices digging holes in the wallets of American voters, White House hopeful Barack Obama said Saturday that he might be willing to support offshore oil drilling in the country.

In a shift that quickly brought accusations of inconsistency from Republicans, Obama said he would possibly back a new energy bill in the US Senate that includes a measure to overturn a ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama told reporters in Florida that the bill, proposed by a group of Republican and Democratic senators on Friday, "has some of the very aggressive elements that I've outlined in my plan to move us in the direction of genuine energy independence."

"If we have a plan on the table that I think meets the goals that...