Politics
Elections 2012: Obama, GOP continue to spar on gas prices
U.S. President Barack Obama. PHOTO/File
President Barack Obama is hitting back at Republican criticism of his energy policies and his role in controlling gas prices.
Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to underscore his administration’s work to develop alternative energy sources and increase fuel efficiency.
“I’m going to keep doing everything I can to help you save money on gas, both right now and in the future,” Obama said. “I hope politicians from both sides of the aisle join me.”
He accused Republicans of a “bumper sticker” approach to solving the nation’s energy problems.
It’s a familiar theme, Obama stuck many of the same chords during two out-of-town trips this week and during a White House news conference on Wednesday.
“We can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices, not when we consume 20 percent of the world’s oil,” Obama said in the address, recorded during a visit Friday to a Virginia jet engine component plant.
In the Republican weekly address, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple accused the Obama administration of blocking projects and technology that would allow greater energy production. He singled out the Keystone XL pipeline project, which Obama deferred.
“We cannot effectively market our crude oil domestically without a large north-south pipeline,” Dalrymple said. “North Dakota oil producers were scheduled to feed the Keystone pipeline with 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day.”
