President Obama spoke Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada at a UPS center to promote American-made energy and his "An America Built to Last" campaign, and he also addressed, at least implicitly, his Republican detractors.

What exactly is the "American-made" energy plan Obama's selling? In the speech, Obama announced the sale of leases for oil and gas drilling across almost 38 million acres in the Gulf Coast and the promotion of highway corridors for vehicles that run on natural gas. Some are taking that to be his defense against Republican critics who say his administration has hampered U.S. energy production. The plan was originally conceived by George W. Bush, but was re-evaluated after the BP spill. Today's announcement, as with most speeches made on his three day, five state victory lap, highlight the points he made during Tuesday night's State of the Union Address.  There too, he tied the the nation's future in innovation and international competitiveness to the development of American-made energy. Also in this speech as in that one, he revisited his tax policy beliefs, with the obligatory recycling of his lines on Warren Buffett's secretary. And of course, playing to the crowd, Obama had a few compliments for UPS and its employees. "UPS accepted the challenge to reduce fuel consumption," he said, adding, "that's how they roll." These jokes, Mr. President ... 

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Alexander Abad-Santos