Posted on 03/12/2012 4:08:12 PM PDT by Libloather
White House defends Obama on gas prices after poor poll numbers
By Andrew Restuccia - 03/12/12 01:41 PM ET
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took to the White House briefing room Monday to defend President Obama’s energy plan after a new poll suggested high gas prices are eroding the president’s approval numbers.
Salazar insisted that Obama is reviewing short- and long-term actions to lower gas prices, while also noting that there are no quick fixes to the problem.
“All options are on the table because the president obviously feels the pain that the American people are facing,” Salazar said when asked if the administration would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a 696-million barrel emergency oil stockpile.
Monday’s briefing is a strong indication of the White House’s concern with high gas prices, which have emerged as a threat to the president’s reelection.
Republicans have sought to pin the blame for high prices at the pump, which AAA said reached an average of $3.80 a gallon nationally Monday, squarely on Obama’s shoulders.
Republicans argue that the president is not opening up enough public lands to new drilling, and they have blasted Obama for his January decision to reject a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday put more pressure on the White House to undercut the GOP criticism. Sixty-five percent of those polled said they disapprove of Obama’s performance on gas prices.
White House press secretary Jay Carney dismissed the poll Monday.
“The fact of the matter is the president and the administration is not focused on polling data,” he said, adding that the president is focused on protecting consumers from high gas prices.
Energy analysts say there is little that policymakers can do to quickly lower gas prices in the short-term. Gas prices are tethered to oil prices, which are set on global markets based on a slew of complicated factors.
The White House launched a full-court press Monday to prevent gas prices from further harming the president.
Obama is slated to conduct several interviews Monday with local television anchors from Los Angeles, Denver, Austin, Des Moines, Orlando, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, and Pittsburgh.
And the White House released a report Monday morning that highlights the administration’s “historic achievements” on energy during the last year.
Salazar, at Monday’s briefing, touted the administration’s efforts to expand domestic oil-and-gas drilling, noting that production is at its highest level in years.
He dismissed industry and GOP claims that the administration doesn’t deserve credit for the uptick in production. Republicans say the increase was the result of prior administrations’ policies and new production on state and private lands.
“Those attacks are simply wrong,” Salazar said. “The fact of the matter is that we are producing more on public lands, both oil and gas, both onshore and offshore, than any time in recent memory.
“For those who say that this president and this administration has turned back the clock on allowing our public lands to be used for production, they are wrong,” he added.
But Salazar said increased drilling is just one part of the administration’s “all-of-the-above” energy plan, which includes lowering reliance on foreign oil, making vehicles more efficient and investing in renewable energy.
“This president has really led a renewable energy revolution, which we are very proud of,” he said.
Data show that the United States is producing more oil than it has in years and oil imports are decreasing.
But, after years of gains under Obama, production on federal land dipped in 2011, according to Interior Department and Energy Information Administration data.
For example, production from federal leases in the Gulf was 1.15 million barrels per day in 2008, rising to 1.56 million in 2009 and about the same level in 2010, but declining to 1.32 million last year and a projected 1.23 million this year, according to EIA.
According to Interior, offshore production totaled roughly 523 million barrels in fiscal 2011, a drop from almost 603 million in fiscal 2010, which was the highest year since 2002.
When it comes to onshore federal lands, production in fiscal 2011 was roughly 98 million barrels, compared to 112 million the prior year, capping years of gains.
RATS live and die by them.
Focused like a laser beam...
His reelection and his golf swing are about all he can focus on.
Whenever Obama whines that gas prices are not his fault, he should be reminded that he employs a Secretary of Energy who has stated that the price of gas should be $8.00/gallon.
In a month you’ll see Obama in an oil field with a hard hat on.
Yeah, hussein can go drill all he wants where the sun don't shine.
Thanks Libloather.
IMHO it will be Obama's "October Surprise". He may be a Marxist but he is not a politically dumb Marxist.
Inflate your tires, buy some algae, shut up, and vote Obama. That’s their “energy plan”.
It should be illegal for anyone in politics to say “feels the pain.”
You can’t drill your way out of high gas prices, just like you can’t eat your way out of hunger.
Pray for America
Another word for worthless is Salazar.
Why do they say the White House defends Obama.
The wWhite House is a building it cannot defend anything.
It should say Obama’s White house appointee’s who suck his butt support him
‘
Of course they do , he gave them their jobs.
The sheet-heads must hate that graph.
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