Gingrich pledges $2.50 gas; President Obama hits back

As I should have expected, rising gas prices have become a hot campaign issue again. Yes, Michele Bachmann promised $2 gas last summer, which was roundly criticized, but the issue didn't go away when she dropped out. Newt Gingrich, who has been demagoguing against Agenda 21 and beating up on sustainable living practices for months, has now taken up the mantle of the fossil fool candidate from the departed Bachmann.

From the Associated Press on YouTube:







Gingrich is playing fast and loose with his statistics, as he failed to mention that gasoline went well over $4/gallon during the summer of 2008 during the term of George W. Bush. Tsk, tsk, but I don't expect any better from Newt. I do expect better from our journalists, I found it. The hard-headed money people at the Wall Street Journal point out how patently ridiculous Gingrich's stance is.







Journalists aren't the only ones to point out the silliness of Gingrich's pledge. Our politicians are as well, and the best response comes from the very top, as shown in these two videos from Brad "climatebrad" Johnson of Think Progress.









Reuters has more on this speech.

President Barack Obama hit back on Thursday at election-year Republican criticism of his energy policies, offering a staunch defense of his attempts to wean Americans off foreign oil and saying there is no "silver bullet" for high gasoline prices.

Obama sought to deflect growing Republican attacks over rising prices at the pump, blaming recent increases on a mix of factors beyond his control, including tensions with Iran, hot demand from China, India and other emerging economies, and Wall Street speculators taking advantage of the uncertainty.
...
"It's the easiest thing in the world (to) make phony election-year promises about lower gas prices," Obama said, offering his most comprehensive rebuttal yet of the intensifying Republican criticism.

"What's harder is to make a serious, sustained commitment to tackle a problem that may not be solved in one year or one term or even one decade," he said.
...
"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."

As President Obama said, what the Republicans are promising is not a strategy, it's a bumper sticker. Bumper sticker slogans aren't enough to solve our problems.

Finally, here's the embed of the complete speech from the White House's YouTube channel. It's about more than just energy, but also about manufacturing and STEM education, two other priorities of the Obama Adminstration.







I love a president who really likes the idea of sustainable development packaged as making America competitive!

Finally, if the full 23 minutes of the University of Miami address is too long, the President's weekly address has all the highlights boiled down to under five minutes.







Above crossposted to Daily Kos.