Gas Prices Rise Again, President Obama Fires Back at Critics on Issue
So, a few weeks ago analysts and think tanks were predicting that gas prices had essentially leveled out for the time being, barring any oil-related catastrophes changing the game in the interim.
And in a turn of events most Americans find simply shocking, gas prices have continued to edge up, which you may notice most if you (like me) get gas in dollar increments rather than a total fill-up and had to stop for gas like eighteen times this week.
In a country fraught with some serious long-term issues of concern (two endless wars, inability to reach anything even resembling a consensus on national health care, a sudden nationally pervasive distaste for the use of birth control to prevent baby-making), it seems the one issue that manages to rally the masses is the ever-frustrating problem of high gas prices.
By all accounts, gas prices are not a new problem and not one that is (unfortunately) likely to resolve any time soon. (Meaning the $2.50 a gallon gas campaign promise made by one Newt Gingrich is unlikely to pan out.) And as Americans collectively lose their shit over “pain at the pump,” the same pundits who swore up and down that the president has no means to influence gas prices when they shot up during the second Bush administration are now pinning the gas prices furor on President Obama.
Priorities USA, a Democratic fundraising group working to re-elect President Obama, has released ads in seven swing states striking back President Obama’s critics, deflecting the blame onto the GOP and “Big Oil,” saying in the spot:
“Who’s behind this ad smearing President Obama [over gas prices]? Big Oil, that’s who. The money they make from high gas prices — is going right into Mitt Romney’s campaign. Big oil executives have pledged two hundred million to help him. And Mitt Romney’s pledged to protect their record profits — and their billions in special tax breaks too. These guys all profit. You pay the price.”
The Dem response to the gas prices furor will run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
