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hand-wringing, but nothing actually happened. Imagine that in Washington. (Laughter.) The truth is, none of
these gimmicks, none of these slogans made a bit of difference. When gas prices finally did fall, it was mostly
because the global recession had led to less demand for oil. Companies were producing less; the demand for
petroleum went down; prices went down. Now that the economy is recovering, demand is back up. Add the
turmoil in the Middle East, and it’s not surprising that oil prices are higher. And every time the price of a barrel
of oil on the world market rises by $10, a gallon of gas goes up by about 25 cents. The point is the ups and
downs in gas prices historically have tended to be temporary. But when you look at the long-term trends, there
are going to be more ups in gas prices than downs in gas prices. And that’s because you’ve got countries like
India and China that are growing at a rapid clip, and as 2 billion more people start consuming more goods —
they want cars just like we’ve got cars; they want to use energy to make their lives a little easier just like we’ve
got — it is absolutely certain that demand will go up a lot faster than supply. It’s just a fact. So here’s the bottom
line: There are no quick fixes. Anybody who tells you otherwise isn’t telling you the truth. And we will keep on
being a victim to shifts in the oil market until we finally get serious about a long-term policy for a secure,
affordable energy future. We’re going to have to think long term, which is why I came here, to talk to young
people here at Georgetown, because you have more of a stake in us getting our energy policy right than just
about anybody.
Now, here’s a source of concern, though. We’ve known about the dangers of our oil dependence for
decades. Richard Nixon talked about freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. And every President
since that time has talked about freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. Politicians of every stripe
have promised energy independence, but that promise has so far gone unmet. I talked about reducing America’s
dependence on oil when I was running for President, and I’m proud of the historic progress that we’ve made
over the last two years towards that goal, and we’ll talk about that a little bit. But I’ve got to be honest. We’ve
run into the same political gridlock, the same inertia that has held us back for decades. That has to change.
That has to change. We cannot keep going from shock when gas prices go up to trance when they go back down
— we go back to doing the same things we’ve been doing until the next time there’s a price spike, and then
we’re shocked again. We can’t rush to propose action when gas prices are high and then
The United States of America cannot afford to bet our long-term prosperity, our long-term security on a
resource that will eventually run out, and even before it runs out will get more and more expensive to extract
from the ground. We can’t afford it when the costs to our economy, our country, and our planet are so high. Not
when your generation needs us to get this right. It’s time to do what we can to secure our energy future.
And today, I want to announce a new goal, one that is reasonable, one that is achievable, and one that is
necessary. When I was elected to this office, America imported 11 million barrels of oil a day. By a little more
than a decade from now, we will have cut that by one-third. That is something that we can achieve. (Applause.)
We can cut our oil dependence — we can cut our oil dependence by a third. I set this goal knowing that we’re
still going to have to import some oil. It will remain an important part of our energy portfolio for quite some
time, until we’ve gotten alternative energy strategies fully in force. And when it comes to the oil we import from
other nations, obviously we’ve got to look at neighbors like Canada and Mexico that are stable and steady and
reliable sources. We also have to look at other countries like Brazil. Part of the reason I went down there is to
talk about energy with the Brazilians. They recently discovered significant new oil reserves, and we can share
American technology and know-how with them as they develop these resources. But our best opportunities to
enhance our energy security can be found in our own backyard — because we boast one critical, renewable
resource that the rest of the world can’t match: American ingenuity. American ingenuity, American know-how.
To make ourselves more secure, to control our energy future, we’re going to have to harness all of that ingenuity.
It’s a task we won’t be finished with by the end of my presidency, or even by the end of the next presidency. But
if we continue the work that we’ve already begun over the last two years, we won’t just spark new jobs,

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