It isn't even April yet, but the Koch bros are already beginning to run a simpleminded ad designed in Luntz-like manner to appeal to voters without a memory. The analysis in USA Today of the ad (see below) is quite good, but how many people will read it? The Obama people should run a reply to it, remind people of what the price of gas was 6 months before Obama took office and why the price was so low in Jan 2009. The 32 second ad is at the link.
Oil industry group attacks Obama on gas prices
By Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY
usatoday.com
A GOP-aligned oil industry group announced today that it's launching a $3.6 million advertising blitz in eight battleground states attacking President Obama for rising gas prices.
Script:
Announcer: Since Obama became president, gas prices have nearly doubled. Obama opposed exploring for energy in Alaska. He gave millions of tax dollars to Solyndra, which then went bankrupt. And he blocked the Keystone pipeline, so we will all pay more at the pump. Obama's Energy secretary said we need to quote "boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." That's $9 a gallon. But what does he care?
INTERACTIVE: Political Ad TrackerBLOG: Obama pressures GOP on oil subsidies
Energy Secretary Steven Chu (testifying in Congress): I don't own a car at the moment.
Announcer: Tell Obama we can't afford his failing energy policies.
Visuals
On screen, text from the narration is dispersed through the short spot. Images in the advertisement include a gas station placard that shows gas at $4.49 and $4.59 per gallon, the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge overlaid with a photo of Obama, Solyndra's headquarters, a shot of an above-ground oil pipeline and a clip of Energy Secretary Steven Chu speaking at a recent congressional hearing.
Analysis
The 30-second ad, paid for by a group called the American Energy Alliance, is based on the fact that gas prices have more than doubled since President Obama took office. On the day before President Obama's inauguration, the Energy Information Administration reported that the weekly U.S. regular conventional retail price of gasoline was $1.832. The weekly U.S. regular conventional retail price of gasoline was $3.787 for the week of March 19, according to EIA.
The White House has argued that the price of oil is cyclical and won't be tamed by drilling alone. When the price was $1.83 in January 2009, the economy was in the dumps and demand was diminishing. Six months earlier, under the Bush administration, oil hit an all-time high. Fast forward to today, and domestic oil production is up, and imports are down. The economies in Europe and the USA are recovering, and demand for oil is increasing concurrently. Disruption of oil production in Africa and anxiety about conflict in the Middle East aren't helping prices.
The AEA says part of the problem is Obama's opposition to exploration in Alaska. Obama said he would not pursue drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge after the GOP-led House passed a bill last month that would lift a ban on drilling there. Obama has backed oil exploration elsewhere in Alaska. In November, the Obama administration proposed 15 potential lease sales, including three off the coast of Alaska. Last month, the Department of Interior approved Shell's oil spill response plan for drilling in the Chukchi Sea.
The ad cites Obama's refusal to approve the Keystone oil pipeline. The president has twice punted on making a final decision on the pipeline that would bring tar sands oil from northwest Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. There's scant evidence that Keystone would have any significant effect on what Americans pay for gas. Construction of the pipeline would lower the price of gas by 1.6 cents per gallon, according to an independent analysis by Moody's. In a visit to Oklahoma last week, Obama said he would press for prompt approval of the southern portion of the Keystone pipeline, while the northern portion remains under review.
The reference to Chu's view of gas prices comes from a Wall Street Journal interview in September 2008 in which he said, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."
Chu called for a gradual increase in prices over 15 years. But even before he took office, Obama rejected the idea of increasing the federal gas tax, citing the burden it would put on families.
At a news conference this month, Obama noted, "No president going into re-election wants gas prices to go up higher." He said, "I want gas prices lower because I meet folks every day who have to drive a long way to get to work, and them filling up this gas tank gets more and more painful."
This apparently does not include Chu, who told a House subcommittee this month that he does not own a car.
The ad raises the case of Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer that went bankrupt in September after receiving $535 million in federal loan guarantees through a Department of Energy program intended to boost investment in clean energy technology. Republicans have pointed to the collapse of the company — which received a high-profile visit from President Obama in May 2010 and whose investors included a major Obama fundraiser — as an example of government overreach.
The Energy Department knew some of the companies receiving loan guarantees might fail, and Congress even budgeted $2.5 billion to cover the potential failures. A recent independent audit, conducted at the behest of the White House, noted that even after the failure of Solyndra and two other loan guarantee winners, the program is well below the $2.5 billion threshold.
The ad will run in Florida, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, New Mexico and Michigan, according to a statement by AEA. Among the alliance's major funders is the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is run by executives of Koch Industries, an oil industry behemoth whose founders have been tough critics of the Obama White House. |
