Oil sets tone for campaigning

NASHUA, N.H. — President Barack Obama on Thursday called on Congress to end $4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies, and he vowed to tackle the country’s long-term energy issues while shunning “phony electionyear promises about lower gas prices.”

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, meanwhile, delivered a speech assailing Obama’s energy policies as he campaigned for votes in states holding contests next week. Obama, in an appearance at Nashua Community College, took a page out of his jobs strategy of last year, calling on Americans to contact their congressional representatives and demand a vote on the oil subsidies in the next few weeks.

“You can either stand up for the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people,” Obama said. “You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean-energy future.”

The president took on Republicans who have called for the country to increase its own oil production, declaring that “anyone who tells you we can drill our way out of this problem doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” With the United States consuming more than 20 percent of the world’s oil while having only 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, Obama said “we can’t rely on fossil fuels from the last century.”

Calling for renewed investment in alternative energy, he vowed to make a “serious, sustained commitment to tackle a problem that may not be solved in one year or one term or even one decade.”

Obama’s decision to spotlight his proposal to end oil and gas subsidies opened him up to criticism from Republicans, who noted that the proposal was unlikely to help lower the price of gas at the pump. The office of House Speaker John Boehner sent an e-mail to reporters citing an analysis by the Congressional Research Service in March 2011 that found that ending the subsidies could make oil and natural gas more expensive.

Boehner also told reporters that, after meeting with Obama at the White House on Wednesday, it didn’t appear that the president would support tapping into the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to curb rising gas prices.

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, declined to say whether the president would tap into strategic oil reserves if gas prices continued to rise.

In New Hampshire, Obama chided Republicans who he said were hoping to gain political advantage from the rise in oil prices.

“Now, I know this is hard to believe, but some politicians are seeing higher gas prices as a political opportunity,” Obama said. “You’re shocked, aren’t you? And right in the middle of an election year. Who would’ve thought?”

“Only in politics do people respond to bad news with such enthusiasm,” he said.

Appearing in North Dakota on Thursday, Romney said the president was out of touch. North Dakota has benefited from the discovery of the Bakken Shale, an oil-rich deposit.

“Today the president is going to be in New Hampshire talking about energy in North Dakota,” Romney said. “He’s about as far away from North Dakota as he can get and still be in the United States. His idea, of course, is to be far enough away from the people who know what’s really going on right here to maybe try and blow one past folks.”

The president did not mention North Dakota in his speech. Obama “has tried to slow the growth of oil and gas production in this country, and coal production,” Romney said. Romney also reiterated his support for a Senate measure that would allow employers to deny health-insurance coverage for contraception and other services if it violates their principles. The legislation was defeated Thursday.

Romney created confusion Wednesday about his stance on the legislation, telling an Ohio television interviewer he didn’t support it, only to have his campaign quickly issue a statement saying he did back the bill and had misunderstood the question. Republican rival Rick Santorum seized on the incident Thursday, saying it gave voters insight into “what’s in the gut of Gov. Romney.” Information for this article was contributed by Helene Cooper, Steven R. Weisman and Ashley Parker of The New York Times; by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Lisa Lerer, John Mccormick, Blair West Kuykendall, Mark Niquette, Greg Giroux, Julie Bykowicz and Kristin Jensen of Bloomberg News; and by Paul West of the Tribune Washington Bureau.