Predictions that the price of gas will soar to four dollars a gallon have been circulating for days. According to the CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer’s blog , the President isn’t in the loop. “Responding to this reporter's questions at a White House news conference today, Mr. Bush said he had not heard about analysts' predictions of the potential for $4-a-gallon gas later this spring when refiners re-formulate fuel blends for summer driving.” In fact… “CBS News radio affiliate KCBS in San Francisco reports regular is selling for $4.23 at a San Mateo, Calif., service station where premium goes for $4.43.” Considering that Bush is a former oil man who once owned Arbusto Energy, served as CEO of Spectrum 7 Energy, consulted for Harken Energy and receives briefings from, well, whoever he likes, you’d think he’d stay on top of this one. If so, you thought wrong.
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He makes himself an easy target —
“What… Me Worry?”
President Bush is surprised when the sun comes up in the morning.
Maybe the CBS reporter could forge some documents saying that Bush is in colusion with the oil companies to raise the price to $5 a gallon. Hey, that would make a good story. Then after it’s found out the documents are forged, CBS could say “while the documents may not be legitimate, we here at CBS feel the story itself is true and will continue to pursue it, and we will form a blue ribbon panel to investigate why these documents were not vetted properly”. But yeah, other than that, I sure these guys are completely accurate in their reporting.
No that I lke the president in the slightest, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in this case, he isn’t saying that because of the impact of his words on the economy, already shaky as it is. What will happen to America if people stop to do their patriotic buying duty for lack of cheap gas?
When you think of how gas prices affect every American you’d think he’d make it his business to know what was going on.
AKM, you just reminded me that we might be hearing the phrase “The worst economy in 50 years!” again from certain political candidates.
So the prez won’t say how bad it is. And the opposition will say it’s utter doomsday. And the truth is the sun will set and rise again the next day like it always has, and the economy will go up and down like it always has. But someone will promise us they can defy the laws of economics and usher in an age of “prosperity for all” if we just give them the power.
I’m surprised that anyone would be surprised by this. Bush has lived in a bubble his entire life. This is someone who doesn’t read, other than the sports section, newspapers. He can probably count on one hand (stop it, I’m sure he can) the times he actually pumped gas into his own car.
What do you think Bushs pain threshold for the price of gasoline is? I don’t think he has to worry about it now an certainly won’t in the future.
Trust me, the Bush Man knows what is going on. That he allows it to continue is what makes me worry.
I won’t comment on Governor Bush’s cluelessness because there’s no point. But anyway, gas is the least of our worries. People can still drive less and/or combine trips to offset higher gas prices. Diesel is currently selling for around $3.90 per gallon in Southern Maine. Since very few trucks run on gas, I think the price of diesel should be an even greater concern. Since so many products are shipped by truck, prices on everyday items are just going to continue to rise and even more people will be pinched by it.
In somewhat positive news, I noticed that OSB and plywood have actually gone down $1/sheet over the past few months at Home Depot. It’s either because there’s oversupply, or HD is trying to undercut other stores. I haven’t checked Lowe’s prices.
Bush is a moron, yada, yada, yada… Aren’t we all so clever?
But Bush is the President of the United States not the mayor of San Mateo or governator of Cal-ee-fornia. As of this morning Triple-A Texas repots that the national average per-gallon price of regular self-service gasoline is $3.16, a far cry from San Mateo’s over taxed and over regulated fuel price. Let’s be reasonable and hope that the President has better things to do than memorize the high and low gasoline prices for every municipality in the US.
William, your point would be a good one but for the fact the thrust of the news piece was that Bush was not aware that analysts were predicting $4 gas. (emphasis mine)
The San Mateo story is peripheral and merely presented as an example that in some places $4 gas is already here.
It’s deja vu all over again. The CBS reporter’s snarky narrative is amazingly similar to a NY Times hatchet job on a demonstration of new grocery store scanner technology for Bush 41. As explained at
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/bushscan.asp
the Times piece was part of an agenda to paint the President as out of touch with economic realities faced by ordinary Americans. Leftist media like the NYT and CBS never seem to recognize that Democrat presidents/governors (and First Ladies) are also relieved of the chores of shopping, housekeeping, oil changes and lawn mowing.
In our Republic’s early days Congress was disturbed by the elaborate scale and expected cost of the new Executive Mansion proposed by George Washington. Their complaints were stopped cold when Washington responded simply, “I require it.”
William C Montgomery: But Bush is the President of the United States not the mayor of San Mateo or governator of Cal-ee-fornia. *snip* Let’s be reasonable and hope that the President has better things to do than memorize the high and low gasoline prices for every municipality in the US.
Since when does any politician get a free pass? To hold a public office and not expect criticisim is unrealistic. Here in the U.S., we’ve a time-honored tradition of criticizing elected officials, be it the President of the United States of America, or your local school board (who are elected officials, in these parts, anyway).
Of course this applies to those of us who write (or comment) in the public realm as well, as Robert mentioned yesterday, so no free pass for us, either. :-)
Wow, next thing you know we’ll find out he hasn’t been staying *right on top* of 2% milk prices too.
Asleep at the wheel, that guy.
50merc–very interesting about that scanner incident. Thanks for that link.
That still doesn’t give junior a pass. I’ll never forget his reaction on 9-11, and how he disappeared for most ofthe day, letting the undeserving Giuliani steal the spotlight. I’m not going to bother mentioning many of Junior’s other policy failings which are costing all of us in tax dollars, and respect abroad, except for the fact that he reinstated the gag rule on his first day in office, which has undoubtedly resulted in a slew of extra births in the developing world, rendering the world even more unstable for the future.
David, I’m with you on one point–I wouldn’t give any politician a pass on well-reasoned criticisms of policy. I like to say of our own legislators, “the better you know ’em (and what they do in private committee meetings), the less you like ’em.” My point is that the media creates scarecrows and bogeymen to fan resentment among those for whom ad hominem and non sequitur assertions suffice. Hollywood is even worse, with the mendacity of such as Michael Moore belonging in the Propaganda Hall of Fame. Political preferences, like attitudes about abortion, are grounded in one’s basic world view and hence virtually invulnerable to debate. So I say, let’s get back to arguing about cars! :-)
Since when does any politician get a free pass? To hold a public office and not expect criticism is unrealistic. Here in the U.S., we’ve a time-honored tradition of criticizing elected officials, be it the President of the United States of America, or your local school board (who are elected officials, in these parts, anyway).
You’re right. In America we prefer our politicians to pretend that they know everything about everything, even though they don’t, and prefer for them to pretend that they have absolute control over everything when they don’t. Remember darling, it’s better to look good than to feel good.
Anyway, I wasn’t looking to criticize you for blogging this story. It is what it is. But I’m bothered by the inevitable chorus of howling monkeys who have nothing more to say than Bush is an idiot. Please everyone; criticize his policies and effectiveness as President. Doing so requires some intelligence, understanding, and analysis. I love to read witty critiques. But warming over the stale joke that Bush is cognitively challenged is simplistic and itself moronic.
William, your point would be a good one but for the fact the thrust of the news piece was that Bush was not aware that analysts were predicting $4 gas. (emphasis mine)
Okay. CBS News reported: “AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom told the Times it was possible gasoline prices could hit $4 a gallon this summer.”
That reads to me more like an over-reported musing than a serious forecast. Is a possibility the same as a prediction? Let me be the first to say that it is possible that gasoline prices won’t hit $4 a gallon this summer. It’s also possible that gasoline prices will top $4.25 this summer. However, many OPEC ministers predict that softness in the US economy will depress consumption and that oil prices will begin fall.
Any way it goes, I hope that GWB isn’t getting his industry forecasts from CBS News.
Bush is a lot of things, but he’s not stupid or ill-informed. His claim that he has not heard about the analysts’ predictions is either a lie or he sees no need to waste time listening to outside analysts.
That he probably doesn’t know the price to the penny in San Mateo is neither here nor there. He knows exactly where oil and gasoline prices are overall and where they’re likely to be in the future. The higher they go, the happier he and his big-oil buddies are.
Record oil company profits are not attained by lowering the price at the pump.
A little of topic (I don’t feel like arguing politics tonight), another engineer who I work with used to work at an oil refinery, and he said the higher gas prices due to reformulation for summer is bunch of Barbara Streisand (B.S.) in his opinion. He said that the refineries are prepared for the switch, as it happens every year, and it is no big deal, at least from an operations perspective. A little food for thought.