Obama Hearts High Gas Prices

UPDATED! 2:30PM

Why would anyone be surprised that, as energy prices soar, President Obama is still pushing for policies to drive them even higher? Weren’t you paying attention when he ran for office?

As a candidate, President Obama said he doesn’t mind high gas prices at all—he thinks they can “help us” if it’s a “gradual adjustment:”

And remember how, in April, he laughed and told a guy complaining about $3.50/gal gas that he “might want to think about a trade-in.”  From my Boston Herald column:

As gasoline prices hit a record February high — on their way to $5 a gallon — I’m ready to trade in the first president since Jimmy Carter who thinks screwing the American driving public is a good thing.

Barack Obama may have been yukkin’ it up about “trade-ins” last April, the last time gas hit $3.70 a gallon (it was $1.80 when he took office), but working families in Massachusetts won’t be laughing this summer when filling their tanks for a trip to the Cape costs $100…

Nobody’s arguing, as the White House contends, that there’s a “magic solution” to crippling gas prices. What we are arguing is that there’s a great way to ensure we get them: Stop leasing land, slow down the permits, discourage production and cancel the Keystone pipeline. These are all great strategies if you want energy costs to soar.

But who, you ask, would want gasoline above $5 a gallon?

That’s the easiest question you’ll get all day.

UPDATE! This horrifying yet accurate analysis from Forbes’ writer Louis Woodhill shows that, based on the historic relationship between oil prices and the dollar, we should ALREADY be paying $4.25/gallon...and it’s going to get worse. Sorry, folks, that’s why it’s called “The Natural Truth.”

UPDATE UPDATE! David Harsanyi asks why Democrats, who’ve long advocated higher gas prices, aren’t embracing them as a social good.

If Democrats had their way, after all, we would be enjoying the economic results of cap-and-trade policy these days -- a program designed to increase the cost of energy by creating false demand in a fabricated market. As the theory goes, if you inflate the price of fossil fuels, the barbarians might finally start putting thought into how peat moss might be able to power a toaster.