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Progressive Democrats of America
Tuesday, 26 June 2012 18:54
Written by Steve Benen | The Maddow Blog
Veteran Democratic pollster Peter Hart recently conducted
a focus group
in Colorado, and if President Obama's supporters want to feel
depressed, they should certainly read what the undecided voters had to
say.
One woman, a 49-year-old a customer service representative for an airline, said she'd consider voting for the president,
but only if he "could do something huge, like really lower the price of gas."
Of course, the notion that Obama, by sheer force of will, can lower
the price of gas is deeply foolish. The public's expectations about
presidential power are often wildly at odds with reality; one official
has limited control over the supply and demand of a globally-traded
commodity.
On the other hand, gas prices really are dropping like a rock.
This chart,
posted
by Meteor Blades yesterday, shows gas prices over the last year. You'll
notice that the cost per gallon has dropped about 50 cents since
mid-April. What's more, with production up, oil inventories high, and
global economic difficulties slowing demand, industry estimates suggest
prices
will drop to "$3 a gallon -- or less -- by autumn."
Obviously, conditions may change, but that's where things stand for
now. Why should you care? There are two main angles to consider: the
economics and the politics.
On the former, the drop in gas prices is welcome news for consumers,
but the reasoning behind the drop is not at all encouraging -- crises
in Europe and a weak domestic recovery are undermining demand, which in
turn lower prices. Remember, after the crash in 2008, gas prices fell
to about $1.80, but it wasn't good news in a macro sense.
That said, a drop in prices in the U.S. can put a little more money
in consumers' pockets, which may have a modest stimulative effect.
But let's not overlook the politics, either. Republicans have
argued, repeatedly and without shame, that when gas prices were on the
rise, this was
entirely President Obama's fault
-- many leading GOP voices argued with a straight face that the
president was single handedly pushing gas prices up in an election year,
on purpose.
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