Business
Increasing gasoline prices: Obama hits back
Vulnerabilities, Few Options
Analysts say even if Keystone were approved, the increase in oil supplies would not affect gasoline prices for years, but the decision is nevertheless a key flashpoint in the election.
“The juxtaposition of the high gas prices and Keystone has the White House understandably nervous, and even though those two have almost nothing to do with each other substantively, they create a political narrative that Republicans could be successful in using to paint Obama as anti-energy and pro-high gas prices,” a Democratic strategist said.
Politically, Obama’s vulnerability over gasoline prices could be especially deadly in Western states that he needs to win to remain in the White House.
Charles Ebinger, director of the Energy Security Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said Republican candidates could gain traction with voters in that region by emphasizing fuel costs, though they — like Obama — had few options to suggest to bring prices down in the short term.
“Out there, a candidate can get some resonance against the president by talking about high gasoline prices,” he said.
“If someone comes back at him and says, ‘What’s your policy Mr. Santorum, Mr. Gingrich, or whomever, to lower gasoline prices today,’ I don’t think they’ll have a good answer.”
