MORE ON Obama’s scoffing at high gas prices’ impact on Americans. “Obama fills the role of clueless aristocrat by telling a man who explains that he can’t afford to fill his gas tank at current prices that he should instead buy a new car. If the press reported it, the retort would prove rather embarrassing — which may be why the Associated Press scrubbed it from their coverage of the event. . . . Just think how Marie Antoinette would have fared with a media so devoted to spinning for her.” I saved a screenshot for the record. There’s also a link to video.
UPDATE: More on Obama and gas prices. “Obama insisted yesterday that ‘There is no magic formula to driving gas prices down.’ That is true. But there are also things the government can do that will drive the price of gas up. And the Obama administration has done many of them.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Did the AP’s scrubbing violate their corrections policy?
MORE: Reader Jennifer Townsend writes: “One point in the video that is not being commented on is Obama seems stunned that someone might actually *need* a larger vehicle rather than using it as a status symbol. ‘You may have a big family, but it probably isn’t that big.’ When children are in car seats, you can fit two children in a sedan. You might be able to squeeze three car seats into a smaller SUV but not comfortably. More than three children and a van or large SUV are the only options. And children are being required to stay in car seats for longer and longer periods of time, upwards to age 12.”
If Obama read InstaPundit, he’d know stuff like that. More here.
MORE STILL: A reader emails: “Isn’t Obama’s comment, ‘you might want to think about a trade-in’ just one more piece of evidence that he’s innumerate? Most people who have a vehicle that gets bad mileage have considered replacing it, but a quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that gas would have to go a great deal higher before it makes financial sense to replace the car.. . . Obamacare, the stimulus package, budgets (and deficits) – the examples are everywhere that neither he nor anyone around him do the math.” Hey, there’s no math section on the LSAT nowadays.
STILL MORE: Or maybe Obama really means it: “Maybe the unspoken message is: Having more kids than will fit in a small car is a decision that high gas prices effectively disincentivize.”
Plus, from the comments: “If he were a Republican, this would be his ‘Bush (41) meets a grocery scanner moment.’ But he’s not, so it is quietly buried.”