Is T. Boone Pickens a Stupid Man?

When T. Boone Pickens started pushing his "Pickens Plan" for energy independence, I wondered what his angle was.

In case you live in a cave, Pickens' plan is to build a large (4000MW) wind-powered energy complex on land he owns in West Texas. In addition to his proposal that we use wind for 20% of our electric needs, Pickens wants to see the nations automobile fuel be switched to natural gas, which, of course, is abundant in this country, and which he claims, is the best, most readily available fuel for our automotive infrastructure.

So, why, then, have I had a bad feeling about Pickens when I heard him talk about this. At various times, Pickens would say he was for an "all of the above" approach, yet, this was exactly the same approach McCain was advocating, yet we never saw Pickens get behind that, and, indeed, he seemed to poo poo McCain's plan, although it matched nearly exactly what Pickens was saying.

While not outright cheerleading for Obama, Pickens seemed to be favoring him, if in a slightly snarky manner. Last night, I saw Pickens again on Hannity & Colmes, and at one point he said that he like Obama because he was the only one talking about being energy independent in 10 years, as Pickens is proposing.

Now, I suspect Pickens isn't a stupid man, so he can't believe that Obama actually means this. Any idiot would know that Obama's promises are meaningless. He has no intention of ever doing anything to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and, it won't happen with Obama in charge of it.

Pickens seems to think that, for Obama to do this, it means he supports the natural gas as automotive fuel scenario, which Pickens sees as the only means to get to the 10 year point (and, which, I suspect, is Pickens' target for $). But, T. Boone, Obama is not going to allow the drilling required to get at those resources. He isn't going to allow drilling for oil, nor is he going to allow you to take natural gas out of the ground. Obama, if he thinks at all, thinks that we are going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil through some kind of breakthrough in battery technology, which is a massive pipe dream, as is Obama's idea that we can conserve our way to energy independence (though, I suppose if Obama keeps us in a deep recession, he might be able to shrink us to independence).

So, what's Pickens' angle?

Curious what you think and will find out! I'll research more and report back!