We're addicted to oil

In the first step in moving the United States along a 12-step program, President Bush finally admitted that this country is addicted to oil on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch the speech, so until I give the transcript a full read, I'm relying on secondhand assessments. One, by the Christian Science Monitor notes that although Bush's bold statement talks about reducing oil imports from the Middle East by 75% over the next 19 years (once again, a ridiculously long time horizon for a Bush environmental proposal), his plan doesn't really match.

"The president's initiative ties an oil savings target to a basket of energy solutions for homes and businesses, which have nothing to do with our oil problem," Gal Luft of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, an energy security think tank in Washington, said in an e-mail.

It's a bold statement, George, but where's the beef?