Obama Ignored $5 Gas Warning

 

By Bradley Blakeman
Newsmax.com

President Barack Obama takes no responsibility for anything — including a 100 percent rise in gasoline prices since taking office as our 44th president.

In 2008 when Obama was running for president, chief energy advisor to candidate Obama and now Energy Secretary Stephen Chu told this to The Wall Street Journal with regard to gas prices and dependence on fossil fuel: "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."

In 2008, Candidate Obama blamed the rise in gas prices on President Bush and his administration. This is what he said: “The President frankly has not had an energy policy . . . our demand is badly outstripping supply with China and India.”

Obama went on to state in an interview with Steve Harwood of MSNBC that he agreed with Chu that rising gas prices would be a good thing because it would force citizens to drive less and look to alternative forms of energy. He preferred “a gradual adjustment” in pricing as opposed to a rapid spike.

The president would like us to believe that U.S. oil production under his watch is at an all-time high. However, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson set the record straight: “Offshore drilling permits are being issued at less than half the rate of the previous administration. The average number of leases issued on public lands is less than half than during President Clinton’s term.”

The Obama Administration’s energy plan all along was based upon the rise in energy costs in order to force Americans to be “greener.” Again in 2008, candidate Obama was perfectly content with soaring energy prices if it meant less green house gas emissions. This is what he said:

“Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

And, missing no opportunity to pit American vs. American like he has done as president, candidate Obama in the campaign of 2008 said this with regard to high gas prices:

“For the well-off in this country, high gas prices are mostly an annoyance. But to most Americans, they are a huge problem, bordering on a crisis . . .”

The president can blame others all he wants, but he cannot escape the facts. On the day Obama was sworn in as president of the United States, gas prices on average were $1.84 a gallon. As of Feb. 20, 2012 a gallon of gas on average was $3.59. In February, gas prices have spiked to $4.33 per gallon in Oakland, Calif.

The reality is that President Obama was warned in 2010 that gas prices could top $5.00 a gallon on his watch in 2010 by former Shell Oil president John Hoffmeister. Obama dismissed his warnings. This is what Matthew C. Nisbet reported on Dec. 29, 2010 for bigthink.com with regard to Hoffmeister’s prophecy: “Former Shell Oil president John Hoffmeister has been gaining considerable news attention this week for his warning that gas prices might reach $5 a gallon by the 2012 election. His efforts at elevating attention to national energy policy are perfectly timed to take advantage of the year's slowest news week, pegged to holiday travel as well as a 2010 end-of-the-year high in gas prices which have crested to $3.052 a gallon nationally, the highest ever for the holiday week.”

President Obama wants Americans to believe that he is powerless to stop the high rise of gasoline prices yet it is his actions and inactions that have created the crisis.

His actions to limit onshore and offshore oil extraction. His blocking of the Keystone XL Pipeline. His dislike of clean coal and fracking for clean natural gas. His refusal to build new refineries. His refusal to permit new nuclear power plants. His refusal to limit the burden on refineries to boost production by limiting the number of gas blends and a foreign policy of weakness and appeasement in the Middle East.

These are all contributing factors to high gas prices.

The president would rather invest U.S. taxpayer funds in failed energy companies like Solyndra and Ener1 than heed the advice of experts like Hoffmeister, a man with no axe to grind and someone who deals in reality rather than ideology.

What the president fails to realize is that there is no one to blame for rising energy costs other than he and his misguided and failed energy policies.

America has all the energy we need for our own use. The problem is that we have an administration that talks about energy independence, while its actions prevent it.

Obama can fool some of the people some of the time but he can’t fool enough of the people in time for him to escape responsibility for his record on energy — and more — in 2012.

Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to Fox News Opinion. Read more reports from Bradley Blakeman — Click Here Now.

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