Firedoglake ad pressures Obama to rethink offshore drilling

The liberal blog Firedoglake.com is launching a new TV ad that uses the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to drum up pressure on President Barack Obama to rethink plans for expanded offshore drilling.

The ad will run on Washington, D.C. cable stations beginning next week.

It combines images of the April 20 rig explosion and spill with Obama’s late March speech announcing wider offshore oil-and-gas leasing, including his comment that “oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills.”

The ad steers viewers to an online petition to Obama against expanded drilling.

A spokeswoman for the group said the duration and breadth of the buy will ultimately depend on the response to an email sent to activists seeking donations.

The ad is one of several efforts by liberal and environmental groups to cast the spill as a reason to block new drilling.

They include a new Friends of the Earth ad that replays Sarah Palin's and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s calls to “Drill, baby, drill,” while showing images of oil spills.

The White House is proposing to sell oil-and-gas leases off the Atlantic Coast and in more Artic waters, and has also asked Congress to pare back drilling limits in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Administration officials have acknowledged that the spill will factor into the development of the leasing plans, which cover the 2012-2017 period.