9.20.2012

Stop with the Gas Criticism Already

Yeah, I know, I have been out of the blogging business for a while now.  I guess life has just been getting the better of me. 

However, I want to bring up a point to my fellow conservatives who like to point out that gas was $1.85 when Obama took office on Jan 20, 2009 versus today's prices of roughly $3.85 or so a gallon.  Ok, I am not an Obama fan, I am not defending him remotely, but stop it already. 

You are comparing apples and oranges, the cost of gas is cyclical.  Gas is ALWAYS cheaper in the winter time, if you want to compare prices, you have to compare gas on jan 20, 2009 to Jan 20, 2012, not what gas prices are in the height of their price.  And I don't know about you, but I remember what gas prices were in the summer of 2008.  I remember driving through New Jersey and finding prices at $3.15 a gallon and was amazed by how cheap that was.  A couple of times that summer I did pay near $4 a gallon.  Then they came crashing down in price that fall, i was thrilled when gas was under $2 a gallon again. 

The point, gas was expensive back in the summer of 2008, but they sunk in price that fall and winter.  We have't seen the price that cheap since, but if you are going to leverage criticism of the gas against Obama, at least use comparible time frames.  Meanwhile, when you use criticisms like this that are easily negated by people who actually remember what gas prices were in 2008, they are less likely to pay attention to your legitimate criticisms against the president thinking you are just going to throw blame any chance you get and shut you down.  This is not a legitimate criticism, so please just stop it already.

3 comments:

Patrick said...

Sorry, but gas isn't $2 cyclical. That is market forces, and when an administration signals that gasoline and fossil fuels are the enemy, we won't allow any more refineries to be built, we won't allow a pipeline to bring more oil here - all those things signal investors who look at those things as limitations on supply. Of course the SPR isn't even a consideration here, but when oil prices peaked and Bush told the world that we were going to drill everywhere including Chuck Schumer's hair, the market took that as a signal that supply was going to increase, and the price fell.

It's not a on/off switch, but the leader of the free world is not without his/her influence.

Risawn said...

Hey,
I'm all for giving us $2 gas again, and I agree Obama's politics are not helping gas prices get lower again, but this particular graphic is easy to dispute.

Patrick said...

Agreed. But for us bitter clingers, we need us some things with big letters and simple words. We's stoopid that way.