The President Feels Your Pain -- Not A Bakken Story

Reporting from the town meeting President Obama held at a wind turbine factory, the reporter posted the following:

Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.

“If you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know,” Obama said laughingly. “You might want to think about a trade-in.”

The link is here.

It's been my experience that AP stories are revised after initial publication. Don't be surprised if this link is broken or if the quote is removed from the story.

It takes a bit of courage to confront the president. To ask a serious question, and to be laughed at in response, speaks volumes (at least to me). 

When oil is at $109 and when gasoline is over $4.00 in California and elsewhere, it's hard to believe we're holding town meetings in wind turbine plants. If you've been following the news, China, Japan, Germany, Norway, General Electric (GE), and others have been making tough choices and their decisions are a bit different than those of the current administration.

But this is reassuring: President Obama, in his energy security speech, said another $10 increase in the price of oil translates to only 25 cents increase in the gallon of gasoline. And his energy secretary says his worse nightmare is coal. On CNBC this a.m., it is being reported that the energy secretary now has "great concern" about the price of oil. Well, duh.