Everyone has reacted predictably to the disastrous oil platform explosion and spill off the Louisiana coast.

We grieve for the families of the 11 workers lost during the explosion. And we hope that the continuing efforts to contain and clean the spill will succeed before it devastates coastlines and marine habitats.

Meanwhile, as public policy groups, labor unions and environmental activists express their concerns, they also take the opportunity to restate their long-held positions.

President Barack Obama's response might have been the most unexpected. He has not flinched in his call for expanded offshore drilling as part of a compromise climate change bill, even as his administration begins investigating the explosion and sinking of the technologically advanced Deepwater Horizon, leased by BP.

It takes political courage — in the face of such a disaster — to stand by a commitment to harness domestic energy sources. But that commitment is critical; our national security and long-term energy needs depend on it.

Contrast Obama's resolve with the opportunistic statements of senators opposed to the drilling compromise. New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez released a statement after the explosion — but before the oil leak was even discovered — saying, "Big Oil has perpetuated a dangerous myth that coastline oil drilling is a completely safe endeavor."

"This may be the worst disaster in recent years," they wrote last Thursday, "but it's certainly not an isolated incident."

That's just not true. The BP accident is the worst of its kind in the United States since 1969. In the 41 years since the last major offshore oil rig incident, the industry's record, though not perfect, is one of ever-advancing technology and improved safety.

Eric Smith, a political science professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, noted in a recent op-ed piece in the Dallas Morning News that only 2 percent of the oil polluting our oceans and seas comes from offshore oil rigs and their pipelines. Most comes from natural seepage, and the bulk of oil in the water as a result of human activity is from industrial and municipal runoff.

Congress and the president — with full cooperation from BP and the rig owner — must answer tough questions about how this happened and how similar accidents will be prevented. But now is not the time to back off a drilling compromise that can ensure a long-term energy policy that will reduce our dependence on foreign sources of fuel.