I yearn for the day I no longer have to write titles like that:

Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.

Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign issue after gasoline prices spiked this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.

“If true, this capitulation by Democrats following months of Republican pressure is a big victory for Americans struggling with record gasoline prices,” said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. (AP via SFGate)

To her credit Dianne Feinstein is outraged, sending out this statement a few minutes ago:

I think it’s awful. This battle is not over.  We will come back and fight another day – that’s for sure.

I regret the House appropriations committee didn’t see fit to go with a better, more widely accepted alternative, which would have kept in place a moratorium 50 miles or more off shore.  In my view, there were better options than this.

Once again the Democratic Congress caves to Republicans who say “boo!” Drilling had faded from public consciousness and Democrats would have done well to insist it not happen.

Especially as bailouts are being discussed, you’d think Democrats would not want to be sending any signals that they can wave the white flag if pressured to do so.

Dems would have done well to listen to Van Jones, who at Netroots Nation in July explained the need to move from opposition to proposition – that the only way we will beat back the drilling push is to aggressively propose a more sensible and sustainable alternative. Dems didn’t do that, and once again they’ve failed at politics and failed America.

Sure, they might restore the ban next year – but it’s not clear if it will be a total moratorium, or if this will have opened a door that can’t be closed again. And if McCain wins, Congress will have a very difficult time reimposing a moratorium.

Otherwise they’ve signed a death warrant for California’s oceans and those who depend on them for a living.