Politics & Power Quote by Mary Bono

Mary Bono’s line is a neat piece of political judo: it turns a pain-at-the-pump grievance into permission for a much bigger agenda. Gas prices are the emotional entry point, the wallet-level crisis that requires no ideological buy-in. By opening with “nationally, and especially in our area,” she localizes a global commodity story, signaling: I’m not talking in Washington abstractions; I’m talking about your commute.

The phrase “more crucial then ever” (grammatical slip and all) performs urgency. It’s not forecasting; it’s pressuring. “We take steps” is classic bipartisan fog: action-oriented without specifying whose ox gets gored. That vagueness is strategic, because “diversify our energy sources” can mean anything from drilling and nuclear to ethanol mandates and renewables. Each faction can hear its own preferred solution in the word “diversify,” which sounds prudent rather than partisan.

The real payload arrives at the end: “reduce our dependency on foreign oil.” That’s not just economics; it’s identity and security. It casts energy policy as self-reliance, a moral posture, and it quietly relocates responsibility outward. High prices aren’t framed as market dynamics or domestic policy tradeoffs; they’re framed as dependence. In the mid-2000s context when this language was common, “foreign oil” also carried post-9/11 undertones: vulnerability, entanglement, the sense that buying fuel is funding instability.

In a single sentence, Bono stitches together cost-of-living anxiety, local representation, and national strength. It works because it lets listeners feel practical and patriotic at the same time, while leaving the hard choices politely offstage.