Gustav downgraded, but Bush uses it to push for offshore oil drilling

Fortunately, Hurricane Gustav lacked the punch that forecasters had feared.

True, water overtopped levees, and some homes were damaged. But it looks as if oil refineries were largely spared. People too.

This morning, at a Cabinet meeting, President Bush said early signs were encouraging and that it was "a little early right now to come up with a solid assessment" of the damage Gustav did to the country's energy infrastructure.

But that didn't stop him from lobbying Congress to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling. Without mentioning opponent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by name -- nor the merry band of Republican rebels who spent weeks debating the issue in the dark without the benefit of C-SPAN cameras or even lights -- Bush said:

I know the Congress has been on recess for a while, but this issue hasn't gone away. And this storm should not cause the members of Congress to say, 'Well, we don't need to address our energy independence.' It ought to cause the Congress to step up their need to address our dependence on foreign oil. And one place to do so is to give us a chance to explore in environmentally friendly ways on the outer continental shelf.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Jim Watson  AFP/Getty Images