"You wouldn't know it from the Republicans, but these are boom times for American energy. And you wouldn't know it from President Barack Obama, but he has very little to do with that."

"From the presidential campaign trail to Congress, Republicans have been hammering Obama for locking up the nation's energy resources. GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, for one, accuses Obama of pursuing policies "that keep us from using our own energy."

But such complaints don't hold up. The U.S. produced more oil in 2010 than it has since 2003, and all forms of energy production have increased.

Obama is not only hoping that simple, rock-solid statistic will silence his GOP critics, he's angling to get some credit for the trend as he navigates a tricky re-election campaign. But he oversells the government's influence on the industry and ignores the fact that many wells coming into production were planned years ago, before he was president."

Dina Cappiello reports for the Associated Press February 6, 2012. [2]