Flip-flop? Maybe

President Obama’s seemingly sudden affinity for offshore oil drilling makes tempting fodder for charges that the president is a hypocrite.

But we will resist the urge.

Not that it’s a particularly strong urge, come to that.

The reality, at any rate, is rather more complicated than those “Obama’s a flip-flopper” allegations going around.

Yes, the president did accuse John McCain, during the 2008 campaign, of pandering to conservative Republicans by calling for Congress to overturn the federal moratorium on offshore drilling.

But Obama also pointed out that doing away with the moratorium then, during the $4 gas crisis, probably would have little immediate benefit.

And he was right.

But he was also wrong.

Specifically, Obama the candidate was wrong to imply that ending the moratorium, which has been in place since 1981, was not a reasonable decision even as the United States strives to curb its thirst for petroleum.

It’s reasonable because no matter how aggressive and effective our pursuit of renewable energy is, oil will remain a vital ingredient in our economy for at least the next few decades.

And we would prefer to get more of that oil on our own rather than continuing to rely so heavily on Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada.

We suspect the president, who could stand to see the term “jobs created” used more often in news reports, would agree.

As for the suspicion that Obama’s endorsement of drilling is merely a cynical ploy to placate Republican-leaning voters seven months before the mid-term congressional elections ... well sure it’s plausible.

But we’re inclined to give the president a chance to prove himself on this point.

Certainly he is savvy enough to realize that if he backtracks in any substantive way from his recent statements, then the political price is apt to be higher than what he’s paying now.