Obama Energy Policies Cause Another High-Profile, 'Lifelong Democrat' to Flip

John Hofmeister, retired president of Shell Oil Co. and founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy, dropped more than a few jaws Thursday morning when he declared, "I am a lifelong Democrat, but I can't and I won't vote for Barack Obama in 2012."

Keynoting the Florida Energy Summit, the electric Hofmeister said, "I can't vote for the president because I've spoken to him. He told me he wants more of the same energy policies that have driven us to $4 a gallon gas. He isn't going to change course.

"I've gone to the Romney people to see what they' re going to do and I'm waiting to hear," he said.

Hofmeister has enough energy credentials to wallpaper a small apartment. Among them: member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee.

"We use 20 billion barrels -- barrels -- of gas a day in this country. That's 10,000 gallons a second," he told Summit participants. "What do we produce? Six billion barrels today. The rest we have to import." In terms of policy, he said, we aren't doing a thing about it.