Pirate's Cove

Obviously, the second part is more pressing to the Liberals at the Washington Post, rather than how much Americans are suffering

Soaring gasoline prices are biting into household incomes and nibbling at Americans’ fuel consumption — and support for President Obama, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

About six in 10 respondents said they had cut back on driving because of rising fuel prices, and seven in 10 said that high pump prices are causing financial hardship.

Obama, like previous presidents in times of high oil prices, is taking a hit. Only 39 percent of those who call gas prices a “serious financial hardship” approve of the way he is doing his job, and 33 percent of them say he’s doing a good job on the economy.

That sort of hardship could slow Obama’s reelection campaign. The Post-ABC poll shows that 60 percent of independents who say they’ve been hit hard by surging gas prices also say they definitely won’t support Obama in his bid for reelection.

See? The high gas prices are all about Obama, what it means for him. Sure, there’s a little bit in there about how Americans are suffering, but, jeez, come on people, this harms Obama!

Of course, this is a situation that is going to continue to get worse, and, yes, you can lay some of the blame directly at Obama’s feet. Many of the policies of his administration have led us to this point, as well as made the situation worse, and Team Obama is lost in the fog. It begs the question, are these people in his administration, along with Obama, completely clueless, or just simply dogmatic partisan hacks who think that the answer is to simply investigate and see if speculators are To Blame?

Obviously, Team Obama cannot affect some of the rise in cost, as the need for oil continues to rise world wide, especially in China and India, as their economies grow. Obama’s answer is for everyone to buy a hybrid, and, if you can’t afford one, Obama’s sad for you. Maybe you can inflate your tires more! And, some “green” economy will just magically appear out of a unicorn’s butt and make all of our energy prices cheap. Except that half of the enviroweenies refuse to allow solar, wind, and hydrothermal projects to go forward.

There was an interesting study I read a few years ago, wish I could find it again, that shows that people tend to spend about the same on gas overall regardless of price, once it is over $1.50 or so. When the price is low, they drive more. Take more trips, including more around town. However, as is obvious to everyone but the economically clueless in the Obama admin., high gas prices negatively reduce the economy all over. People no longer say “hey, let’s head to the Outer Banks for the weekend”, and head off and spend money. Higher transportation prices lead to a rise in prices for food, clothes, and everything else.

Obama has said there is no magic bullet to solve this. That’s Obama Speak for “I have no idea what to do, and really don’t want to do anything, either.” He’s said he wanted high gas and energy prices during his campaign. Well, he now has them, and he’ll suffer at the polls as a result. You want low gas prices? Allow drilling on American soil. It really is that simple.