He does have a point. Even if we drilled oil wells everywhere that there is oil here in the US, and even if we got the Keystone pipeline up and running, that would not have much effect on gas prices. We need to relax some enviornmental laws. But the price situation is not going away any time soon. I gave up my car. I bus/bike everywhere. I haven’t bought a gallon of gas in 4 months. It sucks sometimes, but I figure that I’m paying $30 a month for my transportation needs. That’s less than filling up the tank once.
Perhaps you could argue to what degree it would have an effect, or how quickly... but the reality is what Obama has done, threatening windfall profits tax on the oil companies, obstructing efficient return to drilling in the gulf, obstructing new drilling, obstructing keystone, destroying credibility regarding our resolve in the middle east, weakening the dollar with an explosion of both the deficeit and regulatory demands on businesses... have all contributed to the upward pressure on gas prices.
Even the perception of inevitability regarding reversing Obama's policies will IMMEDIATELY signal speculators the trend will be more oil and lower prices, and put immediate downward pressure on futures, and subsequently gas prices. How long it takes that downward pressure to be seen at the pump is up for argument... but there are things that can be done to reverse the direction of the momentum Obama et all have built.
Newt has obviously put a lot of thought into how to make that happen.