Obama on Energy
Candidate Obama ran as an, "All of the above" energy moderate, promising he didn't want to obstruct Oil, Coal, and increase investment in ALL energy to get us more energy independent (with maybe a slight focus on green energy). But Obama didn't mean it, he governed as a watermelon (Green on the outside, Red on the inside). He obstructed coal, tried to get cap and trade (which would have bankrupted many energy companies), he blocked drilling in the Gulf, obstructed the Keystone pipeline, and cut new drilling permits on public lands in half -- then lied about in the debate with Romney. [1] And the whole time obstructed on anything to do with fossil fuels that might help get us off of foreign dependencies (like obstructing ANWR).
Green Energy = $$$$
As stingy as he was towards cheap energy, he was generous and incompetent at spending the public's money on "Green" energy like Solar, whether it made economic sense or not. Obama's big investments in Solar? 34 different companies he backed went bankrupt costing U.S. taxpayers at least $8 billion, along with over 1,900 investigations, and 60 convictions in corruption and cronyism. So far. But all were contributors to his campaign, and that's what's really important, isn't it? [2]
Fortunately new technologies found a way around his obstructions and oil, gas, and energy production went up, and consumption went down, in spite of this administrations obstructionist policies -- so he tries to take credit for that, and falling oil prices too.
2012
After 2012 election (and a Republican Congress), he had the option to show the American public and the other party that he'd been misunderstood, and was a moderate that wants to work with the other side. His first actions were to throw a unilateral immigration bomb, then the most caustic and disrespectful State of the Union in my lifetime (not acknowledging the election the other party won, and instead pointing out that he won twice), and again, instead of trying to reach across the aisle with a deal on energy that everyone could agree on, and, you know, governing -- he tries to antagonize the other side with an ANWR fight that Alaskan's don't want. [3] And go further than that, by punishing the Red States for not voting Democrat, he eliminated many of their off-shore drilling rights as well (as well as expanding government lands over the state).
To top it off, he has the cluelessness crassness to film his little anti-energy tirade from the least energy efficient jet in the world (Air Force 1) [4] demonstrating his hypocrisy to anyone that cares to pay attention. Fortunately, his side will ignore any slights, because he's "the one".
ANWR
To grasp how dumb the ANWR fight is (not counting the offshore stuff or rest of the state stuff he's throwing in, on top), I included some pictures. In an park the size of South Carolina, the state and people want to drill on 3 square miles of deserted frozen wasteland tundra, in the middle of fucking nowhere (20 million acres of inaccessible nothingness). And the thought that other people might be doing something he doesn't approve of, miles away from anywhere, is too much for him to handle. He creates a misleading ad showing majestic mountains or fertile rivers, having nothing to do with the area we're talking about.
I mean seriously, this is hundreds of miles from what even Alaskan's would call civilization, and zero measurable environmental impact. If you dropped a nuke in the area, nobody but a few caribou would know. But this isn't about reason or compromise, this is about appealing to the ignorance of his most radical base, and intentionally picking fights with the other side, instead of governing. Now that Harry Reid can't hold up bills in the Senate, he wants to throw as many distractions as he can, to prevent the other side from passing laws that could help people.
The end results, approximately 16B barrels of oil, will go untapped. Put another way, probably at least a trillion dollars in national assets (or 20,000,000 job-years) will not be given to the people. He would rather leave that toxic gold in the ground, rather than utilize it for the greater good. (Despite what Alaskan's and the American people want).
Conclusion
I think the President does this stuff, just to annoy the other side, so that the media and his most gullible acolytes can then blame any response or failures on his part, on the other side for daring to respond to his provocation. What they fail to realize is they're setting the stage for how well they'll be treated when the pendulum swings back.
Since I don't want to see this petty back and forth, I'd like for the President to act a little more Presidential than an angry 4th grader having a tantrum because he lost an election. This is likely to certainly turn the informed right and middle further against him, and his party. Eventually, even the uninterested are going to take notice at the laundry list of pettiness, and the democrats will reap what they have sown.