Obama on Gas Prices
At a press conference earlier this month, Obama was asked whether he wanted high gas prices to wean Americans off fossil fuels onto renewable fuels, Obama responded "Just from a political perspective, do you think that the President of the United States going into reelection wants gas prices to go up higher? Is there anyone here who thinks that makes a lot of sense?" The president goes on to say that he wants gas prices lower because high gas prices hurt families, but his gut reaction was to talk about politics. And he also failed to make the very defensible case that high gas prices would be good for Americans in the long run. Here's an answer Obama could have given:
"I think this recent surge in gas prices shows the weaknesses of basing the entire American economy on fossil fuels largely produced beyond our own borders. We've always known that oil is produced in volatile areas, which results in the possibility of equally volatile gas prices. If you need an economic or security rationale for getting off fossil fuels, there it is. But beyond those rationales is an environmental rationale: fossil fuels are surely, and not-so-slowly, destroying the planet we live on. I think that gradually rising gas prices over a long period of time would be valuable to wean Americans off gas while giving them enough time to consider among the various alternatives and choose the one that works best for them. Unfortunately, the current surge is not so much a "weaning" as it is going cold turkey. Americans can't react as quickly as the oil market, which means they take a hit at the pump. And even if they did decide to make a change as a result of the current surge, government has not made it easy for them. We haven't made the kinds of investments in green transportation that need to be made: We need to make investments in public transportation, in electric cars and hybrids, and in a power grid that supports these new projects. In order to secure America's future, economic and environmental, we need to become a nation that makes petroleum a part of its past."