Mercury News editorial: Gas price spikes aren't Obama's fault
George W. Bush wasn't to blame when gas prices surged above $4.50 a gallon in summer 2008, and President Barack Obama is not responsible for the 30-cents-a-gallon spike we've seen since December.
During Bush's second term, speculative trading, a weak dollar and growing demand from China and India were the culprits. Today, once again, Wall Street speculators are part of the reason, along with the uncertainty of supply from Iran and an increase in demand from the improving economy.
Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are peddling the canard that Obama's "radical environmentalism" is to blame. Real radical environmentalists only wish Obama was one of them. The shortsighted GOP snipers want to ramp up offshore drilling and say the president should tap the nation's emergency reserves to bring down prices, but they're wrong. We didn't drill ourselves out of the spike in 2008, and we can't do it today.
Even under the most optimistic estimates by the Bush administration, drilling off the coast would have no significant effect on U.S. production for at least two decades. Even then, it would reduce prices by no more than 3 cents a gallon.
full: http://www.mercurynews.com/editorials/ci_20057029
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