Bush cannot (politically) afford to just throw up his hands and do nothing, even if practically speaking there is little he can do in the short term. The longer he goes out and keeps making statements like this, the more he starts to resemble Jimmy Carter in that dang sweater....and we all KNOW what the Gipper did to Mr. Peanut with THAT imagery!
Nor can the GOP afford to just run a better witch hunt against the oil industry than the Dems can. Now is the time to stick it to them. Things that should be done starting tomorrow:
- push ANWR again...HARD! NOW! Makes obstructionists pay a price for past failures
- Push for relaxed regs on new refinery construction, NOW!
- Suspend ALL custom clean-air fuel blend requirements for the rest of the summer (and possibly forever)
- Push hard for streamlined approval of new nuke plants
I you cannot make your opponents feel the heat at $3 a gallon (especially when you are on the right side of the free market) then you have no business being in politics.
For Antoine Brunet, chief strategist at the bank HSBC CCF, the world's most powerful nations will in effect remain powerless in the face of oil shocks until they act to reduce their consumption and rein in speculation.
"Eighty billion dollars in speculative funds are invested in oil," he said. "It's clear that if they weren't there oil would be cheaper."
Thank you.
A nice retro-active 10% tax cut across the board would be a good start.
Bingo! Thanks for the post.