Obama campaign criticizes Bush oil drilling plan

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday criticized President George W. Bush's plan to lift a ban on offshore oil drilling, labeling it a part of a failed energy policy.

"If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "But most experts, even within the Bush Administration, concede it would do neither."

"It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for thirty years," Burton said.

(Reporting by Caren Bohan)