How now, Red Cow?

President Bush is (finally) doing what he should have done months (years!) ago:

In another push to deal with soaring gas prices, President Bush on Monday will lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.

The president plans to officially lift the ban and then explain his actions in a Rose Garden statement, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by former President Bush in 1990. The current president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself.

But Perino said Bush no longer wants to wait. She pinned blame on the leaders of the Democratic Congress, noting that no action has been taken on this issue.

"They haven't even held a single hearing," Perino said. "So we are going to move forward, and hopefully that will spur action by the Congress."

Asked if Bush's action alone will lead to more oil drilling, Perino said, "In terms of allowing more exploration to go forward? No, it does not."

The president, in his final months of office, has responded to record gas-prices with a series of proposals, including more oil exploration. None would have immediate impact on prices at the pump, according to White House officials, who say there is no quick fix. But starting action now would help, they say.

Bush's proposal echoes a call by Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, to open the Continental Shelf for exploration.

Congressional Democrats have rejected the push to lift the drilling moratorium, accusing the president of hoping the U.S. can drill its way out a problem.

Bush says offshore drilling could yield up to 18 billion barrels of oil over time, although it would take years for production to start. Bush also says offshore drilling would take pressure off prices over time. In addition, the president has proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, lifting restrictions on oil shale leasing in the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and easing the regulatory process to expand oil refining capacity.

Oh, how will the liberal enviro-nazis respond? The only ones standing between America and new domestic sources of oil are the watermelon enviro-nazis, who will fight any new oil with the ferocity of the Hitler Youth at Battle of Berlin. Minus the panzerfausts.

Allahpundit wonders about the timing:

This is one of the few gimmes McCain has right now; putting the ball in the Democrats’ court forces them to defend an unpopular position. By waiting so long, though, Bush has timed this so that it’s going to get eaten up by Obama’s trip to Europe and Iraq next week, when foreign policy will be front and center. I don’t get it.

I disagree. Americans will be paying more attention to this than they will any of Barack Obama's overseas adventures. While he's overseas, he'll get asked about it. He'll have to somehow fashion his response while separated from many of his staffers and coordinate his response with the Nancy Pelosi-led Dems in Washington. Obama will be forced to take into account his party's extremely unpopular position, with limited communications and policy resources and a very limited ability to think on his feet.

I say the timing couldn't be better.

(crossposted at Pro Cynic and Circle City Pundit)