Don’t Say “Thanks Obama”
for Low Gas Prices
The price of gasoline is at a record low — and President Obama wants to take credit. At a recent speech the president told the crowd “you’re welcome” for the fact that “a lot of families are saving a lot of money at the gas pump.”
That’s a slick move. President Obama is like a mayor who ignored years of pleas to repair giant potholes, and then shows up at the auto repair shop to say “you’re welcome” after you pay for the new suspension and rims because of those potholes.
America has undergone an unprecedented energy revolution. But that’s despite, not because of, President Obama. Indeed, his administration has gone to great lengths to hamstring domestic energy production. Most recently, the president proposed a $10.25 per barrel tax on every barrel of oil. President Obama should stop taking credit for what he hasn’t done.
The centerpiece of today’s energy revolution is hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” This technique has given energy developers access to previously trapped shale energy reserves buried deep underground — and the President has opposed it at every juncture.
Because of the rapid adoption of fracking, domestic oil production has expanded. Last year, American crude oil production peaked at 9.6 million barrels a day. That’s about a 2 million barrel increase over 2014.
That surge is boosting energy security. In recent years, America has dramatically reduced its dependence on oil from OPEC, the Middle East oil cartel that crippled the American economy in the 1970s with an oil embargo. The United States now imports only one-quarter of the oil it consumes — its lowest level in three decades.
Our reduced dependence on foreign oil is starving rogue regimes of revenue. That’s especially important endeavor now that Iran — a state sponsor of terror — has rejoined the international oil market under Obama’s Iran deal. By 2017, that regime’s oil exports could generate $10 billion in revenue.
But if the United States can provide its own fuel sources, it can help keep that outlaw regime in check.
But President Obama shouldn’t be patting himself on the back for these benefits. The president has repeatedly tried to paralyze the growth of the energy industry.
In November, President Obama rejected Keystone XL, a proposed underground pipeline connecting Canadian shale reserves to U.S. refineries. This would have created thousands of jobs — and strengthened North American energy for decades.
In March, the White House announced it won’t offer offshore drilling leases off the Atlantic coast, forfeiting billions of dollars in revenue.
And recently, the White House has gone after consumers. The president’s recent $10-per-barrel oil tax will raise gas prices by 25 cents for every gallon.
While the energy industry has grown despite these obstacles, such progress is threatened by the Obama administration. Sustained basement-level gas prices have forced producers to scale back production. The number of active oil and gas rigs in America dropped by nearly two-thirds between 2014 and 2015.
If President Obama wants credit for lower gas prices, perhaps he should have encouraged innovation and refused to block improvements to America’s infrastructure.
Of course, the American energy industry will persevere, evolve, and grow. But there’s one thing that’s for certain: that won’t be thanks to this White House.
By Michael James Barton
Michael James Barton is the Energy Advisor at ARTIS Research and speaks around the country on energy and energy security matters. He previously served as the deputy director of Middle East policy at the Pentagon.
It’s Getting Harder To Govern, And It’s Not Just Politicians’ Fault
We may not know who our next President is going to be, but here’s one thing that’s almost certain: he or she will take office with roughly half of the electorate unhappy and mistrustful. The notion that the President speaks for a broad coalition of Americans who are willing to set aside their differences on behalf of a compelling new vision for the country? It’s vanished.
I’ve spent a lot of time pondering where it went, and though I still haven’t found an answer, do know this: it’s not only Washington’s — or even the political class’s — fault.
Let’s start with a lament I hear frequently about this year’s crop of presidential candidates: “Is this the best we can do?” I used to believe that the popular argument that the best among us do not seek political office was wrong — that there were plenty of standout Americans who went into politics. And there are. But there are also a lot of talented people — the kind who could lead us beyond our tired political discourse — who take a look at politics and turn the other way these days.
I’ve known a lot of very good people in politics, who were motivated by a true interest in improving the country and saw politics as a competition of ideas, not a mean-spirited clash of ideologies. I see less of this today. Many politicians seem genuinely not to like one another. They see a victory by the other party as a threat to the well-being of the nation.
This is a departure from the past, and it’s not a healthy one. There was a time when the parties and other organizations that brought disparate voters together — charitable institutions, unions — helped build a unity of effort in the government. But groups like that are weaker now.
Which is a shame in a year like this, when voters are angry and distrustful and worried by economic insecurity. They don’t have much appetite for the substance and complexity of policy, seem to relish the clashes that this year’s campaigning has produced, and are uninterested in talk of finding common ground.
It’s a campaign year, of course, so a certain amount of this is to be expected. But if the voters’ surly mood and mistrust carry over after November, it’s going to be very hard for the next President — and politicians in general — to govern effectively.
By Lee H. Hamilton
Lee Hamilton is a Senior Advisor for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government; a Distinguished Scholar, IU School of Global and International Studies; and a Professor of Practice, IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.
