Oil and natural gas are our primary transportation fuels, supplying 97% of the energy (27 quadrillion BTUs!) that we use annually to move our cars, trucks, buses, boats, planes and trains.

The 3% that comes from renewables is ethanol. (Source.)

Beware the man who tells you he’s going to reduce our oil imports by growing wind and solar energy. Wind and solar are used to generate electricity, which they do in paltry amounts.

Beware the man who tells you that it’s going to take a “couple of years” of high gas prices to turn things around. Oil, natural gas and coal account for 83% of our energy, and the Energy Information Administration projects pretty much the same split 25 years from now.

Above all, beware the man who prefaces his remarks with “I’m just going to be honest with you…”

On Wednesday, President Obama spoke to workers at a wind turbine plant in Pennsylvania:

“I’m just going to be honest with you. There’s not much we can do next week or two weeks from now [about gas prices],” the president told workers at a wind turbine plant outside Philadelphia. …

Obama said he wants to move toward “a future where America is less dependent on foreign oil, more reliant on clean energy produced by workers like you.” That will happen by reducing oil imports, tapping domestic energy sources and shifting the nation to renewable and less polluting sources of energy, such as wind, the president says. He has set a goal of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025.

But the president said it won’t happen overnight and if any politician says it’s easy, “they’re not telling the truth.”

“Gas prices? They’re going to still fluctuate until we can start making these broader changes, and that’s going to take a couple of years to have serious effect,” Obama said.

If any politician suggests that renewables might move the needle on gas prices over a two-year time frame, “they’re not telling the truth.”

Cross-posted at RedState.com.