i wasn't very fond of that op-ed piece. It's a bit of a stretch to say the US drilling moratorium is going to hurt US or other western companies in their ability to obtain natural resources elsewhere. The rigs headed for the GOM will go elsewhere since there is not a glut of deepwater rigs. There will be losses associated with the relocation and changes in plans but the losses will be mostly within the US.
That latter point brings up what will probably end obama's foolishness. That would be lost or delayed tax revenues to the US gov't. Of course obama may think that will only be a problem for the next administration in 2012. 8^)