Are you listening to yourself, Mr. President? That is the question many thoughtful Americans may have wanted to ask after President Barack Obama's radio address last week.
Higher gasoline prices, averaging about $3.65 per gallon last week nationwide, have many people worried. They remember what happened in 2008, when service station pumps showed record highs of $4.11 a gallon. That helped fuel what has come to be known as "the Great Recession."
"We know there's no silver bullet that will bring down gas prices or reduce our dependence on foreign oil overnight," Obama said. "But what we can do is get our priorities straight and make a sustained, serious effort to tackle this problem."
We agree, wholeheartedly. So why isn't the White House doing just that? Why is the Obama administration rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline to bring oil to the United States from Canada and help producers like North Dakota get crude oil to refineries? Why is it banning oil drilling in promising domestic fields? Why is it out to destroy the coal industry? And why is it suggesting new limits may have to be placed on natural gas wells?
Indeed, let's get our priorities straight. Let's make a serious, sustained effort to tackle this problem.
You said it, Mr. President. Now, let's do it.