Washington Extra – Gift of the gas
After negotiating a tricky stretch of road, the Obama campaign may be easing into the straightaway in the gas-driven presidential race.
News on Monday of a delay in the planned closure of the largest refinery on the East Coast could mean an end to skyrocketing gas prices. And that would effectively take the wind out of a forceful Republican line of attack — that the president is to be blamed for $4 a gallon gas, arguably the most visible price in the American economy today.
The narrative was working against the president, who currently gets some of his lowest poll marks for his handling of energy prices, even though the causes of higher prices are largely beyond his control. Even so, we shouldn’t expect the Republicans to simply drop the rhetoric.
“Until we are at the point where people don’t feel like they’re squeezing their entire paychecks into the gas tank, it’s an issue that Republicans are going to keep talking about,” said a Senate Republican aide.
Here are our top stories from Washington…
Signs of cheaper gas could brighten Obama campaign – New signs of lower gas prices could give a boost to President Obama’s re-election hopes and blunt a potent weapon that Republicans have used to attack him. News of a month long delay in the planned closure of the largest refinery on the East Coast was the latest indication sky-rocketing gasoline prices may have peaked. Industry experts say keeping Sunoco’s Philadelphia refinery open will ease supply concerns and help underpin a gradual decline in gasoline prices during the summer. For more of this story by Alister Bull, read here.
Washington Extra – Pump It Up
Today it was rising gasoline prices that have Republicans and Democrats at each other’s throats. Both parties realize they really cannot do very much about retail prices, but they’re scrambling in hopes that voters don’t blame them for a pocketbook issue in an election year.
“Every time prices go up, there’s some sort of ruckus,” Marc Spitzer, an-ex energy regulator appointed by former President George W. Bush, told Reuters.
The current White House occupant seized on gasoline prices today, targeting potential oil market manipulators and calling on Congress to jack up civil and criminal penalties on those found to be messing with prices for their own financial gain.
“We can’t afford a situation where speculators artificially manipulate markets by buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage and driving prices higher, only to flip the oil for a quick profit,” President Barack Obama said in the White House Rose Garden.
Republicans quickly dismissed Obama’s initiative. “It probably polls pretty well, but I guarantee it won’t do a thing to lower prices at the pump,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. While the Republican answer is more domestic oil production, Democrats argue that’s already happening and prices nonetheless have risen.
Look for this ruckus to only get louder if the average gasoline price breaches the $4-a-gallon mark this summer.
Washington Extra – Gasoline alley
President Obama may have his facts right on what’s behind higher gasoline prices and he might be correct in saying that the causes are largely beyond his control. But even his strong arguments won’t stand a chance with Americans if a gallon of gas heads up to $5 in coming months.
Nevertheless, the president clearly understood the importance of getting his message out there early and his speech today in Florida was well timed. Rising gas prices are leading the nightly news shows this week and Republican presidential candidates are squarely placing the blame on Obama and his energy policies. Last night, right out of the debate gate, Newt Gingrich said he would give Americans $2.50 gas if he won the White House.
“You can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas,” Obama said. “I’ll save you the suspense: Step one is drill, step two is drill and step three is keep drilling.”
Obama contends that there is no silver bullet for the energy crunch and that real change will only come in the long run. But he has asked officials to study options for a short-term fix for consumers’ sake. That could come in the form of alleviating delivery bottlenecks or even a rare tapping of the strategic petroleum reserves. Indeed, when it comes to America’s gas, actions speak louder than words.
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Washington Extra – Tax time
If President Obama did indeed schedule the release of his corporate tax revamp Wednesday to steal the spotlight from Mitt Romney’s tax plan rollout – as some critics charge – it just might have worked. The Obama plan was the top story of the day.
But perhaps more importantly, Obama neutralized corporate taxes as an election year issue by aligning himself with Republican positions.
Sure, there may be differences in the tax rates each candidate backs – Obama at 28 percent, Romney 25 percent, Santorum 17.5 percent and Gingrich 12.5 percent.
But the message is the same: cut taxes on our corporations and especially domestic manufacturers to make the United States more competitive. That’s all voters are likely to hear.
The president also showed Corporate America – not his biggest fan – that he’s willing to talk with them, at least on the tax issue. Cutting the corporate tax rate has been a top goal of big businesses for many years.
Not that it will add up to much more than political messaging, at least this year, with elections coming in November. The odds of meaningful tax legislation in 2012 are slim to none.
But come 2013, tax reform could be the big show and Obama’s plan puts him at center stage.
The White House and the silver bullet defense
Verbal silver bullets were flying all over the White House press briefing today.
“There is no silver bullet” has become the White House phrase for telling the public it has no magical solution for combating rising gasoline prices. With gas prices at the pump over $4 a gallon, the translation for the 2012 presidential campaign is: don’t blame us.
“The truth is, there’s no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away,” President Barack Obama said in his weekend address.
White House spokesman Jay Carney latched onto the phrase during the daily media briefing, and reporters ran with it too.
Question: “Given that there’s no silver bullet … is there any element of what the president’s doing with regard to gas prices that’s just for the sole purpose to demonstrate that the government’s trying to do something, in terms of the appearance of action, because he knows Americans are frustrated?”
“No,” Carney replied.
“There is no single silver bullet that’s going to suddenly bring us back to $2.50 gas. And that’s a reality, and that’s why we need a serious long-term energy policy,” Carney said later on.
Obama doesn’t drive, but he feels your pain at the pump
President Barack Obama says he sympathizes with the frustration over high gas prices — even though it’s been a while since he’s had to fill a tank.
“I’ll admit to you, it’s been a while since I … filled up at the pump,” Obama joked during a townhall-style event. “Secret Service doesn’t let me get out, and they don’t let me drive anymore.”
The event at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale was part of Obama’s ongoing effort to sell the deficit-reduction plan he introduced last week and gear up for a 2012 re-election campaign.
Gas prices, which hit a 2.5-year-high last week at $3.84 a gallon, have weighed on public opinion in recent months. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll in March found that gas prices were playing into Americans’ low confidence in the U.S. economy, and a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found rising energy costs hurt Obama’s approval rating.
Obama — who assured his audience that “it wasn’t that long ago that I did have to fill up my gas tank” – blamed speculators and oil companies for price increases and said his administration would investigate unfair practices and monitor gas stations for price-gauging.
In the long-term, he said the United States needs to look at increasing the production of domestic oil, using more biofuels, and developing more fuel efficient cars and other technology. Obama said government investment in new technologies led to the Internet, GPS devices and other products.
“There’s not going to be any single silver bullet,” Obama said. “What we’ve got to do is develop all these energy alternatives. All of them, though, are going to require some investment in new ways of thinking, new basic science, new research.”
President Barack Obama tried to put the kibosh on birther speculation by releasing his Hawaiian birth certificate and calling questions about the authenticity of the document a distraction from bigger issues by “sideshows and carnival barkers.”
McCain calls for more oil drilling in new TV ad
WASHINGTON — In his most controversial television ad yet, Republican John McCain calls for more domestic oil drilling.
“We went to the moon, not because it was easy, but because it was hard,” the ad’s narrator says. “John McCain will call America to our next national purpose — energy security.”
Domestic drilling is not a popular option in states like Florida and California that have oil reserves offshore. McCain also promises to work for lower gas prices and alternative energy sources, tapping into an issue that’s uppermost in voters’ minds.
Democrats said the ad misrepresents McCain’s track record, and dug up several Senate votes where he opposed spending on renewable energy research.
“In his 25 years in Washington, Senator McCain has been a part of the problem, not the solution on energy independence,” said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney.
The rouge countries who sell us our oil are trying to topple us as a world power, they will do it because of oil prices.
We need to stop the fighting among ourselves. We must start drilling for more oil on, in and around our own lands. We then in return need to get going on alternative fuels in a super fast track way. With the help of alternative fuels. We can reduce our thirst for oil. At some point the oil we drill for will be used for certain needs. Jet fuel, roadways, plastics, etc. price will drop. we will never be able to get away from oil completely. We will need it for some products but why not from our own country or Canada. Then by having our own alternative fuels in place, using CNG (temp) price of natural gas will soar think about our home heating.
Natural Gas can also come from Oil Drilling
We need to get some vehicles turned over into electric, self recharging vehicles. When they drive they recharge no plug in at night. Then bio fuel cars and big rigs. Run them on natural oils and alcohol (ethanol) This would create many jobs in America, processing plants could be maintained within state lines, which in turn reduces transportation cost.
Homes that are running heat on heating fuel (comes from oil) would have to be fazed out. Ban those type of furnaces. Homes could be heated with NG,NATURAL OILS,WOOD PELLETS, WOOD.
The sad thing about all this is it is a political issue, Congress will always try to throw things in a bill. It is a this for that and then no one wins. This has been going on for years.
Write your congress person and tell them to start doing there job or they will lose there job just like many Americans. Tell them your views keep them simple as they could get confused easily. Let them know how they vote will make a difference on how you vote. Everyone can contact congress by email.
They need to hear from you.
We The People need to stand up to CONGRESS. We pay there salary and healthcare, etc.
I AM FOR MORE OIL, JUST GET IT GOING. DEFINITELY FOR ALTERNATIVE FUELS, SO WE NEED SO MUCH LESS OIL IN THE FUTURE.
SOLAR, WIND, BIO, BUT WE WILL NEED MORE OIL and NG TO GET THERE.
Got a hankering for some Bush history?
WASHINGTON – Hankering for a history lesson on the Bush presidency from a Democratic point of view? Then look for the “Bush Legacy Tour” bus, which will be visiting communities across the country from now until the November presidential elections.
The liberal Americans United for Change activist group launched the national tour on Tuesday with much fanfare and a lunchtime barbeque in front of the AFL-CIO union building a block away from the White House.
It’s a 28-ton, 45-foot long, bio-diesel-powered museum on wheels featuring interactive exhibits “on the worst policy failures that grew out of the Bush/conservative agenda,” touts the group.
The group has broader ambitions than just sharing its views on George W. Bush’s presidency. It is zeroing in on the conservative thinking Republican presidential candidate John McCain represents, said the group’s president Brad Woodhouse.
“We are really talking about an ideology that Bush in many cases was a vessel for,” he said.
The bus features exhibits on Bush’s economic policies, the Iraq war, his administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina and a gasoline pump comparing the price when Bush took office to what it costs to fill up now.
Not in the mood for a liberal history lesson? McCain sent a letter to supporters on Tuesday announcing a contest for a ride on his “Straight Talk Express” bus for some lucky donor.
I wonder if Mr. McCain’s bus is also bio-diesel, Mr. & Mrs. Reader?
If and when the so called Straight-Talk-Express and/or The-Bush-Legacy get off the interstate and park where I can see them from my window…well…I might take a walk down to see what their principals have to say to me concerning what I care about, i.e.:
1. Getting Our Best & Finest (i.e., Our Sons & Daughters) out of the QUICKSAND in SW Asia…sooner than later. As in SE Asia of the 1960′s and 1970′s, the existing U.S. counterinsurgency cannot succeed in the long-term. The last man standing in any insurgency is invariably the insurgent, not the counterinsurgent. This has been proven over and over and over again, e.g., France before leaving SE Asia (French Indochina) in 1954; France before leaving North Africa (Algeria) in 1962; the U.S. before leaving SE Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos) in 1973; Russia before leaving SW Asia (Afghanistan) in 1989; the U.S. before leaving SW Asia (Afghanistan/Iraq) in 2009 (I hope) et al.
2. Rebuilding and restoring Our Best & Finest…including providing world class care to Our Veterans, their Families and their Survivors. I don’t mean world class LIP SERVICE…but world class CARE.
3. Rebuilding and restoring America’s physical INFRASTRUCTURE, thereby creating millions of middle class and working class jobs…and creating a manufacturing, supplier, engineering and architectural boom on every street in America.
4. CUTTING middle class taxes to a top rate of 15%, and cutting working class taxes to a top rate of 5%.
5. CUTTING small business taxes to a top rate of 20%.
6. Restoring the middle class and working class tax EXEMPTION of $60,000 and $80,000 for singles and marrieds, respectively. Yes, in the Revenue Act of 1913, $3,000 for singles and $4,000 for marrieds was exempt. We’ve had 2,000% inflation since then, or twenty times the original exemption.
7. LIFTING the lid on the FICA tax to include the privileged class, and applying the FICA tax to all sources of income…not just earned income.
8. RAISING taxes on the privileged class, corporations and capital gains to make up for the cutting of taxes on the middle class, working class and small businesses.
9. Pass legislation and sign it into law…that will either PROHIBIT speculating in oil, or requiring at least 85% cash up front when so speculating. Oil is a matter of national defense and a matter of national economic security. Therefore, speculators cannot be allowed to run up the price for their own personal gain. It is unpatriotic to say the least, and should be illegal as well.
I’m near the AMTRAK station, and will leave the light on for Mr. Obama too.
OK Jack
P.S. I’ve never been politically surveyed, and I’ve never seen a presidential candidate up close. I can’t wait!
