Where in the world is…Obama talking about energy?

In the past week, presidential hopeful Barack Obama was spotted in battleground states Florida, Michigan, and Ohio touting his new repertoire of energy “solutions” and anti-McCain rhetoric. (He may or may not have been spotted wearing a red trench coat and hat). While in Florida on Friday, Obama was heard “supporting” expansion of oil drilling: "If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out (read: centrally planned) drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done.” However, he still wants to be so rigid as to make additional drilling uneconomical.

In Michigan on Monday, Obama continued to stress his desire to tax “excessive” profits by energy companies in order to provide $1,000 energy “rebates” to every American family to help offset the increased prices caused by the tax. However, there are more than 114 Million families in the United States. This proposal would increase taxes on the single, most volatile industry by $114 Billion! Click here to compare Obama and McCain on energy taxes.

On Tuesday, the tax loving candidate was spotted in Ohio, accusing McCain of supporting tax breaks for energy companies. However, Obama failed to mention that these tax breaks apply evenly to all U.S. businesses, greatly improving the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and small businesses.

In other news, oil prices fall below $118 on report of surplus supply…