Should the U.S. drill "everywhere"?

My purist thinking side says, no, the places where the opportunity to drill remains restricted are a combination of costly to recover, dangerous to recover, and not very large anyhow.  I'd rather see the money spent on building solar panels, wind farms, battery cars, hybrid cars or even cellulosic biofuel than on oil platforms, deep water drilling, and all the complicated machinery necessary to keep the environmental effects of drilling obnoxious rather than disastrous.

My political compromising side says, drilling is dumb, but it's only a little bit dumb.  It's not as dumb as letting solar and wind tax credits expire, it's not as dumb as subsidizing the oil companies, it's not as dumb as driving an SUV, and it's certainly not as dumb as not investing in public transportation.  I also realize that a significant number of people not only fail to realize how dumb those other acts are, but think that drilling is the most brilliant idea ever conceived.  So I recognize an opportunity here, an opportunity to trade-in on the totally out of proportion enthusiasm drilling inspires in the opponents of public transportation and renewable energy.  It's not perfect, but that's what politics and compromise are.

My dark, sarcastic side goes further.  That part thinks, well maybe it's really important to allow the drilling, because if we do, it won't be more than 6 months later before the proponents of drilling realize how stupid they were to think it was the solution to the problem.  Sure, you have politicians who support drilling who say things like "drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already", but among their supporters and colleagues individuals who really believe that is the solution, and that somehow it will take effect tomorrow too.  I'd like to burst their bubble just for spite.  Let em try and drill there way out and see the look on their faces when they finally realize 6 months to a year later, hey, it's gonna take 10 years, cost a lot and even then be no more than a drop in the bucket.