Hugo Chávez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Presidents of Venezuela and Iran, respectively, have benefited from the rhetoric of U.S. foreign policy. The Administration's confrontational response to Iran's nuclear policy and Venezuela's anticapitalism is actually making those countries richer and their rulers more popular by driving up the price of oil, a commodity they possess much of.
Then there are those who say Americans are gas-hogs and the price of gas should be raised to encourage conservation and as a means of creating alternative energy sources.
The bottom line is this, according to Time:
...with elections looming and consumers fuming, the Republicans can't ignore what every TV news show is headlining the Pain at the Pump. The cost of gas may be high now, but for the Republicans by November, it could be a lot higher.
Ernest Wilson at TPM writes:
Iran's going nuclear; Latin America's going left; Nigeria's going to pieces; China's going everywhere and driving up raw material prices; and the Bush administration is going off the deep end, simultaneously looking for scapegoats for its bankrupt energy policies, and ostrich-like, looking to bury its head in the sand to hide from the serious energy and environmental problems America faces.
That this Haliburton-Happy band of Big Oil allies could pretend to be surprised by our current situation is the height of hypocrisy. At every opportunity to design an energy policy that would protect America they took the path of protecting the oil companies instead. The administration failed to provide more incentives for consumers to shift to other fuels, to drive more efficient cars or to conserve energy in other ways.
Republicans are now falling all over themselves to come up with a plan. The most ridiculous, is that of Sen. Bill Frist, who wants to give voters $100 to ease their pain at the pump. As if, they wouldn't have to just turn around and give it back the next time they filled up their car. The New York Times reported yesterday:
The rebate was the signature element of a broader Senate Republican leadership plan announced Thursday that included new incentives for the oil industry to increase its refining capacity and for consumers to buy hybrid cars. It would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling and would impose an accounting change forcing oil companies to pay higher taxes on fuel sold from stockpiles. The proposal would also give the executive branch new authority to set fuel standards for cars, an idea that will get a hearing in the House this week.
But Rep. Debbie Stabenow (R-MI) said Artic drilling will never win approval so that's a non-realistic component of the plan.
Wall St Analysts are warning that crude oil could soon top $100 a barrel.
What would your solutions be? Has anyone in Congress come up with a sensible plan?
And back to the original question, will gas prices be a deciding factor in November's elections?
Update: The Democrats offer a plan.
