Great points, kabar. The pundits on each of the morning shows did take obama on (through Plouffe) on his stance on energy/gas prices. I was surprised.
What I find laughable is Obama claiming credit for increased oil production, the highest in 8 years. Federal versus private lands aside, how can anyone claim credit for oil production in three and 1/2 years when it takes at least 5 to 10 years from exploration and discovery to production. We will see Obama’s influence years from now. Obama inherited the Bush policies on increased production, which are bearing fruit now.
Now the real reason is that the regulatory environment in the USA is geared to higher prices, but that would not play into the liberal media agenda, so they collectively forget it. Besides, they would probably have to be smarter than they are to figure that out. Or at least have some basic understanding of market forces and economics that did not come from Paul Krugman.