Ok, now I don't agree with every decision President Bush has made since he took office, but I DO believe that he is basically used as the excuse for every problem that plagues the earth these days. Part of this is surely politics. I would imagine come mid-November, no matter WHO gets elected, that game will become less popular. But when it comes to the price of gas, it is hard NOT to give The President the credit he is due. Oil hit an all-time high the day President Bush signed an order lifting the executive level ban on off-shore drilling. The next day the price of oil began dropping, and it is still dropping basically everyday to this day. If one looks back at recent history, John McCain, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, etc... were ALL against off-shore drilling. ALL of them have changed course on the issue since President Bush began pushing hard on the issue. The price at the pump is down more than a quarter just in the last month or so, thanks to the lifting of that ban by The President. I believe congress will soon lift the congressional ban as well. A number of GOP senators are pushing for the ban to be lifted by October 1st, and they have started a website to push that idea,
http://www.energyfreedomday.com/. The fact that oil/gas has dropped significantly since the exact DATE The President lifted the executive ban proves offshore drilling CAN lower the price at the pump. Even if there were less than 1% of our oil needs offshore, the very idea that our elected officials are willing to TAKE ACTION appears to be enough incentive to the markets to move the price at the pump lower. Common sense takes you a step further. If congress lifts the ban, and drilling begins offshore, it would seem likely that the price of oil might drop significantly. Perhaps the whole drive-up of the price of oil was tied to the fact that the markets, and speculators trading in the markets didn't believe congress and the white house were willing to actually DO SOMETHING about the high price of gas. ALL OF THIS is due to The President stepping up and DOING SOMETHING. Nobody else was willing to take immediate action. Solar, Hydrogen, Ethanol, Wind and the like are all long-term solutions to the problem. It makes sense that we should explore other options besides oil, but for NOW, finding more oil here in the U.S. makes the most sense (not just to me, but as we've seen, the markets agree with that as well.) Now, did President Bush get the credit for this? Nope. I onlny heard one or two news outlets point out that the price began to drop after the executive ban was lifted. Not until tonight have I heard ANY news outlet put two and two together and point out how not only did the price at the pump begin to fall, but now EVERYONE who was against it originally (see list above,) are now willing to look at off-shore drilling today. Lou Dobbs mentioned this issue tonight on his program. You can see the results of a poll he put up about The President and whether he was getting the right attention on this issue at this link...
http://loudobbs.tv.cnn.com/. I suppose, just like the fact that no other U.S. city has been attacked since 9/11, this is another issue with which President Bush will get no credit. Then again, probably part of the "arrogance" others see in The President is really the fact that he appears to be secure enough in his decisions that he doesn't worry about what others think.
Raymond
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