From chapdog's article:
Except in rightwing birther lunatic world, Obama can in no way be deemed anything other than a pragmatic centrist. I wish he was Noam Chomsky, but it is what it is.
I don't have a problem with this crap. There's undoubtedly a little oil and gas to be found, not enough to make any substantial difference in our dependence on foreign oil. But that's fine. There's some jobs to be had, and some royalties to be made, and the areas that are being opened up aren't ecologically or environmentally sensitive. Some small and modest size companies might be stoked about it. The major multinationals I'm familiar with, for the most part thought Atlantic areas are crap prospects, not worthy of major time and investment. I doubt anyone I know at Shell or ExxonMobil are high fiving over this atlantic crap. The drilling ban is being maintained on areas where people are totally against it, or where it could be detrimental to sensitive habitat, which I'm down with.
All in all, a pretty centrist, business-friendly, and pragmatic move by our first Marxist-Socialist kenyan president.