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April 7, 2011

Obama's Plan on Gas Prices Is ...

Topics: Political News and commentaries

Following up on our previous post in which a top official with the American Petroleum Institute says we can expect gas prices to rise to $5 per gallon, John Hawkins happens to have piece up today on Barack Obama's plan to address gas prices ... well, sort of.

It's not exactly about Obama's plan to address gas prices, because ... even with prices having risen 30% over the last year and now averaging $3.69 per gallon (up 67% since he took office) ... Obama has no such plan. Only what Hawkins aptly describes as Obama's Plan To Come Up With A Plan To Convince People He Has A Plan On Gas Prices:

Obama hates the oil industry, he's blocking drilling in ANWR, he still has the clamps down on drilling in the Gulf -- in other words, if it increases the price of oil, he's favor. If he were honest, Obama would simply make the case to the American people for high gas prices. But of course, Obama's not honest. He's a diehard socialist with a moderate candy shell designed to trick people into swallowing his leftism.

So instead of the truth, we get a dog and pony show that's designed to mislead the American people ...

Read more ...

As John goes on to aptly note, we can expect Obama to continue to make the situation worse while doing nothing more than delivering rhetoric and spin, telling the American people about how important it is to him (while continuing to do nothing to bring prices down by drilling for more here in the U.S.) ... essentially employing the same strategy of rhetoric and talking points - and nothing more, that he has used for dealing with the deficit -- and look how well that's worked out for us.

Unfortunately, Barack Obama's ideologically-based energy agenda runs completely counter to the only solution - 'expanded exploration and production' - not cheap talk and taking credit for what other administrations have done. As Howard Rich points out in his Obama AWOL on Gas Prices, the administration continues to say one thing and do another on the rising price of gas -- ignoring opportunities to increase our oil supply while at the same time taking credit for production gains that he is actively seeking to dismantle:

... on March 8 the Obama administration released data showing that domestic oil production -- at least in the Gulf of Mexico -- had risen to its highest level in seven years.

"From 2008 to 2010, oil production from the Outer Continental Shelf increased more than a third -- from 446 million barrels in 2008 to an more than 600 million barrels of estimated production in 2010," White House climate change czar Heather Zichal said.

These figures -- obtained from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) -- were trumpeted by Mr. Obama at a press conference four days later.

"Any notion that my administration has shut down oil production might make for a good political sound bite, but it doesn't match up with reality," Mr. Obama said. "We are encouraging offshore exploration and production."

What the Obama administration neglects to point out, however, is that this expanded production is the result of policies implemented during the administration of former president George W. Bush. And while Mr. Obama announced a modest expansion of offshore drilling a year ago -- he reversed course and imposed a six-month moratorium on new leases in the wake of the BP oil spill last summer. Also, earlier this month U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar told reporters that the "Obama moratorium" would be extended to cover the duration of the president's first term in office.

So much for supporting expanded "exploration and production."

The time has come for our president to stop lying to the American people, We're tired of political spin and misleading rhetoric on rising gas prices. It's long past time for Barack Obama to allow supply to increase and lower those prices before, they become an even greater drain on our still-weak economy.

Image credit - Texas Tech Marketing Department via School of Journalism and Electronic Media, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Related video: Obama admits he supports high gas prices ... but would have preferred "a gradual adjustment" (posted to YouTube back in June 08):

Posted by Richard at April 7, 2011 6:36 AM

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