‘Chops Licking,’ Then and Now
“President Obama today accused Republicans of ‘licking their chops’ at soaring gas prices, while admitting his administration has no ‘silver bullet’ to ease pain at the pump,” Bridget Johnson writes at the PJ Tatler:
Obama gave a talk on energy issues on a visit to the University of Miami’s industrial energy-efficiency center. He then attended a fundraiser at the Biltmore with Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).
“Just like last year, gas prices are climbing across the country – except this time, even earlier. And that hurts everyone – everyone who owns a car; everyone who owns a business,” Obama said.
“Now, some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. You’re shocked, I know. Last week, the lead of one news story said, ‘Gasoline prices are on the rise, and Republicans are licking their chops.’ Only in politics do people greet bad news so enthusiastically. You pay more, and they’re licking their chops?” he added.
Gee, as the above video highlights, I can remember a politician who licking his own chops to see higher energy prices himself in 2008 — and several big media outlets on both coasts who also supported the idea of themselves:
Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.
As Daniel Henniger writes at the Wall Street Journal, welcome to “Obama’s Virtual Economy:”
If you were a president who for three years presided over an economy with more than 13 million unemployed, a growth rate gasping around 2%, an historic credit downgrade and underwater home mortgages drifting like icebergs toward the American Titanic, what would you do?
You’d do what Barack Obama’s done: Reboot.
With his recently announced campaign platform—An Economy Built to Last—President Obama has essentially constructed a virtual economy. Instead of the economy we all live in, he’s making one up and inviting us to pretend we are living in it. Welcome to the Sim City Economy.
Sim City, one of the most popular products ever in the imaginary world of video games, lets players bring to life towns of their own devising in great detail. It’s endless fun, fiddling with the dials on the real world.
Especially when, as Henninger wrote last year, for Obama, the private economy has always been an intellectual abstraction. Except that, as VDH wrote this morning, “The Obama administration’s real problem is existential: What if it gets what it wants, but then finds that either it or the country really is uncomfortable with what it got?”
Michael Ramirez of Investor’s Business Daily illustrated the Mobius Loop the president’s epistemically closed worldview nicely back in 2009:
Update: Related thoughts from Allahpundit at Hot Air, who also remembers the president’s campaign trail rhetoric from 2008.
Ed,
Obama 2008 called to remind you to make sure your tires are properly inflated. High gas prices and all…
Heh.
I seem to remember the anti-war Left, of which Obama was a leading proponent, licking its chops everytime a troop casualty was announced from Iraq or Afghanistan.
I seem to remember the Left licking its chops over the Abu Ghraib scandal.
I seem to remember the Left licking its chops over the devastation caused by Katrina.
I seem to remember the Left licking its chops over W’s unemployment numbers.
I seem to remember the Left licking its chops over supposed worsening relations with our European allies.
Sorry, Mr. Creased Pants, it was you and your fellow Alinskyites who decided to make the political personal and misfortune politically profitable. Payback, hoist petards, and all that, baby. Bon appetit!
– what you will, Obama.
Yes, Mr President, talking about drilling, decade after decade, does absolutely no good. How about actually drilling here rather than lending Brazil money to enable them to develop their off shore oil to sell to the Chinese?
I do not have a link, but I believe Pres Clinton vetoed some oil project and said that it would do not good since it would take a decade to get the oil to market. That was almost 15 years ago.
It gets worse …
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/11/backs-b-loan-mexico-oil-drilling-despite-obama-moratorium/
$1B Ex-Im Bank loan to PEMEX, which it will use to support its operations in, among other places … the Gulf of Mexico (though supposedly this is not going to support deep-water drilling).
Even as he impedes expanded oil production in his own nation … then again, if one’s objective is to put America “in its place”, this kinda makes sense … lift up others, hold us back.
It’s a shame that we don’t have an independent media who might see some purpose into exposing the Affirmative Action Hires lies.
Luckily for him 95% of the media is simply an arm of the Democratic Party.
In Obama’s Economic Simulation, algae is the fuel of tomorrow, “Drill, baby, drill” is merely a campaign slogan and he actually thinks Republicans killed the Keystone Pipline.
It would be somewhat humorous if it were confined to a classroom. But out here in the real world, it’s disturbing. It’s almost as if Obama has no idea how economics or the energy sector operates.
And Ed, you also could’ve included a few videos of Pelosi and DWS attacking GWB about high gas prices. I wonder where they are today and why they’re silent about $6 per gallon gas?
What I wonder about is why when gas prices under Bush rose to $3.00, the left and the media, including Obama, were all holwling, and crying why wont the president do something. But now that gas prices are OVER $3.00 and headed to $4.00 we all are hearing about supply and demand in global markets and why the president really cant do much. Of course that position is essentially correct, and its kind of nice to see dems and the press talking about markets and supply and demand for once, but I wonder if they will get amnesia and forget it again when we get a repub pres. And they also are ignoring things the pres could do, like open up more drilling and ok the pipeline.
In this case, the repub position, why not drill more and build the pipeline, is not hipocritical, since it actually will help the global market supply some, and they have the same position for both repub and dem presidents. Although even in their case it wont help quite as much as they claim, since to really move prices you must change global supply/demand, not just US supply/demand.
The one I cant understand at all on this is O’Reilly at Fox. He is constantly ranting about how US supply exceeds US consumption because of the mild winter, and why are prices rising, and the oil companies must be evil for exporting fuel, completely ignoring that prices are set by global supply and demand, not just US supply and demand. And he is advancing the idiotic proposal to restrict US fuel exports, which would just lead to refiners building all their refineries overseas to avoid the restrictions. It is just as idiotic as would be prohibiting US grain exports because grain prices are rising. I can understand an idiot leftist ignoring global market forces like this, but O’Reilly is supposedly a conservative. Any conservative that is that ignorant of basic global supply and demand does not deserve the label conservative. It hurts me to say this, because on many issues I like O’Reilly, but on this one he is completely wrong.