Posted on 04/24/2006 4:59:57 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
SAN JOSE -- As oil prices hit a record, drivers worried about $3-a-gallon gas and politicians feared the impact on elections, President Bush on Friday acknowledged the pain but seemed resigned to being able to do little about it.
"I know the folks here are suffering at the gas pump," the president said while promoting his competitiveness initiative at the Silicon Valley headquarters of Internet networking company Cisco Systems Inc. "Rising gasoline prices is like taking a _ is like a tax, particularly on the working people and the small-business people."
But to address the immediate problem, Bush offered only a pledge that "if we find any price gouging it will be dealt with firmly."
Bush said that lowering America's dependance on foreign oil imports will help reduce the country's vulnerability to global oil price fluctuations. On Saturday, the president was pushing his proposals to boost spending to develop alternative energy sources, particularly hydrogen-fueled cars.
Critics say Bush's ideas are too modest and focus on solutions that are far from being a reality in the marketplace.
Crude-oil prices broke through $75 a barrel Friday amid concerns about the standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions, rebel disruptions of oil production in Nigeria, and tight U.S. gasoline supplies. Analysts say they are likely to climb even higher.
Prices at the gas pump also kept rising and were not considered at their peak, with the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline at $2.855. That's 3 cents higher than a day earlier and more than 60 cents higher than a year ago, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report.
Democratic efforts to score political points by focusing on gas prices have Republicans worried that their majority in Congress could be at risk in the fall midterm elections.
High gas prices were hardly the only problem facing Bush's White House as he embarked on a four-day swing to California and Las Vegas. He was traveling with new chief of staff Joshua Bolten, charged with reinvigorating a White House rocked by public discontent with the Iraq war and a series of missteps ranging from an ill-fated Supreme Court nomination to a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.
Bush's poll ratings are at their lowest point. Hundreds of protesters called for his resignation near the Cisco compound where he spoke.
Even his trip put the president squarely in the middle of a federal-state dustup.
Bush decided not to grant the pre-emptive federal disaster declaration sought for California's fragile levees by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who faces a tough re-election fight and has had a chilly relationship with Bush. Instead, the president is allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help speed repairs at the state's expense.
Bush seemed aware of the precarious political landscape.
When Bush turned the microphone at Cisco over to Schwarzenegger, the governor said, "First of all, I want to say congratulations."
"For what?" asked the president, appearing genuinely surprised.
The governor, who had discussed the levee issue during a limousine ride with Bush, replied that he was glad to see the president "really paying attention" to the competitiveness issue.
Afterward, Bush talked privately with scholars from Stanford University's Hoover Institution, including former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a Hoover fellow and early defender of the use of pre-emptive force to deal with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.
Plans to hold the meeting at the Hoover Institution were scuttled when protesters blocked Bush's motorcade from going through the only entrance. Shultz, who was already hosting a private dinner for Bush later at his Palo Alto home, had the session moved to his two-story, gray-shingled house.
One reason for a weekend trip with a lot of downtime in beautiful places became clear even before Bush boarded Air Force One to leave Washington. Crew were seen loading two shiny mountain bikes _ one a red-white-and-blue Trek adorned with the presidential seal and "United States of America." With stays scheduled in picturesque Napa Valley and the Palm Springs area, the bikes weren't likely to remain clean for long.
"Tomorrow I'm going to be riding my bike in Napa Valley. I can't wait," Bush told his Cisco audience.
Before returning to Washington Monday night, Bush was making stops to raise money for the national Republican Party, visit with Marines and Navy sailors, and press Congress to break a logjam over the immigration legislation he wants.
What I'm saying is the fighter I voted for has crawled under his desk along with all the other cowardly republicans....and I'm sick of it.
Give me a man ... and the backing of a party with some cajones!
...or we're gonna have to put up with the dems robbing us all blind again.
My husband and I work opposing days and hours to keep our kids out of daycare (which also means they go wherever we go, all the time). It's a boatload of fun grocery shopping for a family of 5 with 3 kids in tow. I've done it at midnight just so I didn't have to bring the babies with me.
But to do it in an economy-sized car? No thanks. I'll pay the extra right now, because until I'm out of the carseat/booster seat phase, smaller won't work.
The reason most poor people are poor is not due to lack of earning potential, but 1. poor money management skills and 2. they just don't choose to work all that much. I remember that there was a study a couple of years ago that said the families with the top 10% in incomes (this is from memory so might be off a bit) worked 100+ hours a week. Families with lowest 20% income worked 20 or fewer hours a week.
I agree with your bumper sticker.....I used to think Bush was a good president, but I have had a change of mind. I now think he is the biggest spending, and the most do nothing president we have ever had in office in my lifetime. I used to be proud to call him my president, well, not anymore. Sorry all you Bush supporters, but I just cannot support this president any longer. He is a oil man just like Cheney and his true colors are becoming quite apparent.
Your memory is faulty. He was accused of lying in a debate when he said that Gore advocated that (even though Gore did).
Bush just strong arms congress. He is an excellent fund raiser and controls the Republican money.
Bush had an opportunity last week to negociate with President Hu regarding China's undervalued currency and our huge trade deficit with China. What happened????????
You mean in the headlines which rewrite what he said to say something entirely different from anything spoken?
Thanks - the way FR is these days I was expecting to get flamed for making the statement. I don't need to worry too much about gas prices because 1. I just don't drive all that much and 2. I make enough that it's annoying, but doesn't really have much of an impact on my bottom line.
The local news was listing Corvettes as fuel efficient cars (28 mph highway)
You know hold their hands!!!!!!!
The average government tax (federal, state and local) on a gallon of gas is 45.9 cents. In California, it is 60 cents. The oil companies make about 9 cents profit on a gallon of gas.
Where'd he say that? It's not in the article...it's just in the headline.
Absolutely. It's time we stopped settling for the lesser of two evils.
It was Gore's position, and Bush got lambasted by the "Truth Squads" for calling him on it.
Then I'll repeat what I said in #37; when you decided to have a large family, you made a decision to incur certain expenses, and gasoline is by no means the largest of them. That was a decision you made willingly, and I'm sure you knew it wouldn't be cheap.
We are not stupid. Most of us know that just about everything that we touch is a derivative of petroleum, including the phoney butter that you put on your toast this morning.
So sorry. My memory is not faulty. I remdember seeing and hearing HW. Bush saying that the American people could pay the same as Europeans. Maybe you need to go to your local library and look it up.
Gore was an almost, unheard of senator from Tennessee. This was before Clinton.
Naw. The more the media rewrites what he says, the more foolish he sounds...but that's the point, right?
There's a lot that could be done, they just aren't willing to do it.
Though President Bush has a long list of proposals that he's been pushing since 2001. Most of them take 5-7 years after they are enacted, but some are shorter to fruition. Some have actually finally been passed, but they take time to have an effect.
For one thing, the oil companies were not making any profit at all until crude got to be at least 20.00 a barrel. But, then no one even gave that a thought.
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