EDITORIAL: Obama’s distaste for oil a barrier to job creation

Congress and President Barack Obama have an opportunity to put thousands of Americans to work almost immediately without spending a dime of federal tax money. Unfortunately, those jobs would be created by the oil industry, and oil is a partisan issue, even with the country's labor participation rate at its lowest level in decades.

Today the House is expected to vote on a bill that would end the country's four-decade ban on oil exports. The ban was put in place in response to the 1970s Middle East oil embargo, which triggered gas price spikes and fuel rationing. But the global oil market has changed dramatically over just the past few years. Thanks to fracking and new drilling technology, the United States has become one of the world's top oil producers.

However, because of the export ban and a refining capacity that has not increased relative to oil production, there is a glut of U.S. oil in storage that overseas refiners would buy if they could. The bill before the House would allow such sales to occur and would trigger increased U.S. oil production and hundreds of billions of dollars in new private-sector investment around the country.

But the vast majority of Democrats despise the oil industry. They believe oil and the other carbon-based fuels that drive the global economy and make our standard of living possible should be phased out in favor of green energy to prevent a global-warming catastrophe. Because of that, President Barack Obama has threatened to veto legislation that ends the U.S. oil export ban.

Some Democrats believe the president would sign such a bill if Republicans agree to a more "comprehensive" energy bill that meets his satisfaction. As reported by The Hill, many Democrats might be persuaded to support the lifting of the export ban if amendments include expanded renewable green energy tax credits, new environmental protections and increased land conservation, among other provisions.

Of course, if Democrats pile on too much expensive lard, the bill will lose Republican support — and Democrats will blame Republicans for the bill's failure.

Democrats are supposed to be the party of "working families." But that label is conditional. The oil industry drove the U.S. economic recovery, and it can help again — if President Obama will let it.