I have often wondered how much control the President of the United States has over the price of a gallon of gasoline. If you ask any of the Republican presidential candidates today, they would unequivocally place the high price of gas at the feet of President Obama. Specifically, they cite “his policies,” and more recently, pass blame on the president’s nixing of the proposed XL oil pipeline. To the ordinary “Joe” citizen like you and me, that appears to be a reasonable argument, and many of Americans have taken that bate Republicans have reeled out.
Today, in the op-ed section of the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper, an article titled “Driving the politics out of gas prices” provides clarity on this issue which debunks that myth. It appears in fact a U.S. president (and his/her policies) have very little (if any) impact on the price of a gallon of gas. However, there are several factors that do including; the rise of world crude oil prices (which represent 76% of the price); the recovery in global demand as result of the crash of the world economy (recovery is actually a good thing); and seasonal variations in demand (which include changing out of winter formulas for summer formulas).
Just think for a moment, if am able to obtain such noteworthy information regarding what contributes to high gas prices, this would be a nominal task for the million dollar campaigns being run by Republicans candidates. To the contrary, however, they morally choose to say (and with such conviction) the opposite. To be fair though, Republican and Democrats at one time or another, have conveniently made this argument to score political points when the other party was in power. This is just another (of many) examples where politicians attempt to cast doubt on their political rivals by being deceitful and misleading. I don’t agree with “graying” the facts in any situation where Americans are used as political pawns to gain their votes.
This is why our political system is in such disarray and why there is so much divisiveness. It’s time for each and every political candidate (and current elected officials), Republican or Democrat, to re-calibrate their moral compass and set a new direction toward building a healthy country and not casting a deceitful shadow.
