Quote:
Originally Posted by FantasticDan
If gas prices continue to hang out at this level or even continue to increase, obviously he will have a difficult time.
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Unfortunately, you are probably correct that the voters will react negatively to high gas prices. However they would wrongfully be placing the blame on Obama.
The way I look at it is this...
It's better to have $5 per gallon gas than no gas at all.
In the Carter Doctrine, Jimmy Carter laid out U.S. policy with regard to middle east oil. Oil is so vital to the U.S. national interests that the U.S. can not allow any one nation to control the flow of middle east oil.
The reason gas is high now has less to do with Obama than most understand. It has much to do with the political risk in the middle east. Oil is priced by the market and political risk is a big component of the price.
Any horseplayer would understand this simple concept risk as a component of price.
There is an incredible amount of instability in the middle east right now. Things were much simpler when only Iraq and Iran were the dominant middle eastern powers. Now there is a big vacuum with Saddam Hussein no longer alive. Iraq is struggling and Iran is trying to resurrect its Persian Empire.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Bahrain, Libya, etc etc etc all play a role.
The U.S., even though it is the only superpower, can not control the major actors in every nation.
To blame Obama is naive. Just as it was naive to blame Bush I or II. It's far more complicated than this two hundred word post can begin to explain.
If you want to blame a president, Ronald Reagan is as good a choice as any.
He was the president that helped the Afghans defeat Russia and bring the cold war to a close. His actions gave rise to Osama Bin Laden. He would have been better off not defeating Russian and remaining in a stalemate. The U.S. fighting proxy war in Afghanistan against Russia would have kept everyone preoccupied.