Rewind to May 2008. Barack Obama had not been elected president yet. But he had already been talking about demanding “sacrifices” from Americans. So a young man in the audience on this day asked Obama, what sort of sacrifices are you talking about?
Obama named three. The first, edited out of the clip, was national service in exchange for lowering the cost of college tuition. We already have programs that do that, namely the military and the GI Bill, but that’s not what Obama was talking about. He was talking about some kind of civilian national service in a program he has yet to pursue.
The other two sacrifices? Higher electricity prices, to force coal-fired power plants to change the way they operate. And higher gas prices, to get Americans to stop buying “SUVs that get 8 miles to the gallon.”
He warned us. But not enough of us paid attention to what he was saying and the media didn’t make a big deal out of the pain the future president was predicting.
What’s happening to your wallet right now was part of this president’s plans to make you sacrifice, to satisfy his whims.
But don’t get upset when he and his wife take their 17th one-percenter vacation in three years, on your dime. As Elton John sang, it’s no sacrifice. For them.
By the way, what kind of SUV only got 8 miles to the gallon in 2008?
Not the Ford Explorer.
Not the Chevy Tahoe.
Not the Toyota 4Runner.
What’s he talking about?
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