Kachi wrote:
Quote:
But the fact that he appointed this guy as his energy secretary, and has stated that high gas prices aren't a problem as long as they rise gradually (exactly in line with the proposed action by the guy he appointed energy secretary) both go a long way towards providing strong evidence in support of the "conjecture" that he agrees with said energy secretary within the context of using raising prices on certain forms of energy in order to push people into using alternatives.
Your standards for "strong evidence" are impressively scant. Only someone who has a bias against Obama would interpret that as "strong evidence." That is next to pure conjecture on your part.
Really? We're asking whether or not Obama believes it's good policy to raise prices on some energy sources
gradually in order to encourage alternatives, right? That's the "grand conspiracy" we're talking about (a label I didn't use btw). What evidence would constitute "strong evidence" that Obama thinks this is good policy? Let's see:
1. Appointing the guy who proposed the idea as your energy secretary.
2. Publicly stating that high prices on those energy sources (gas specifically) wasn't a problem, but the fact that they rose quickly was.
3. Showing an apparent complete lack of concern about gas prices when given an opportunity to raise taxes in some way.
Yeah. I'd say that's "strong evidence". Wouldn't you? I mean, what would indicate that he supports that policy? Should he come out on stage with a goatee and a monocle, holding a white cat, and cackle at the public while proclaiming his evil plan to raise gas prices? Cause I'd think that the above three points are pretty good indicators as to his position on this. Wouldn't you agree?
We could go further and talk about his statements about alternative energy, his support for cap and trade mechanisms, his reaction to the gulf oil spill, and numerous other actions and statements he's made along the way. And while this "plan" is certainly not the entirety of his agenda with regard to energy, I don't think it's a stretch at all to suggest that he has no problem with said plan except the public backlash he'd suffer if it were implemented in an obvious manner.
Let's even toss out the assumption that anyone is "planning" to do this, or taking specific actions to make it happen. Are you saying that Obama wouldn't like gas prices to go up in order to encourage alternatives? The original assertion didn't say that Obama was doing anything actively to make this happen, but just that he would like it to happen. Can you honestly say that this isn't true?
And once we get to that point (and it's not a stretch at all), there are lots of things you can do (or just not do) that can easily facilitate such price increases happening. You don't have to be obvious about it. Just *don't* push for oil producing countries to keep their stocks at reasonable levels so as to keep prices low. Don't push for domestic production of oil. Don't push for more refinery capacity. It's not that hard to do, but there's a clear delta in terms of effect on the public either way.
Edited, Mar 2nd 2011 6:03pm by gbaji