Sunday, February 26, 2012

Americans aren't stupid (are they?)

 Conn Carroll in the Washington Examiner:

With the average price of a gallon of gasoline rising 40 cents just last week, President Obama attacked Republicans yesterday, trying to distract voters from his own failed energy policy. “The American people aren’t stupid,” Obama said “You know there are no quick fixes to this problem.” And Obama is right. There are no quick fixes to this problem.
But Obama has been in office for three years now. There is plenty the federal government can do to lower gas prices in three years. Problem is, everything Obama has done on energy has been designed to increase Americans’ pain at the pump.
Yes, oil and gas production is up in the United States. But this is happening in spite of Obama, not because of him. It is being driven entirely by increased production on state and private lands, areas where Obama has little power to shut down production.
The reality is that Obama’s goal has always been higher gas prices. His Energy Secretary Steven Chu famously told The Wall Street Journal in 2008, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” And when Obama was asked by CNBC’s John Harwood that same year if high gas prices actually “helped” the United States, Obama said, “I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment.”
Americans aren’t stupid. They remember Obama’s words. They know that the only real regret Obama has about high gas prices is that he may get blamed for them at the ballot box.

 http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/morning-examiner-obamas-campaign-higher-gas/393266

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