If oil prices remain high, the airwaves will become increasingly filled with politicians blaming one another for the rising costs.
The GOP and the American Petroleum Institute, which represents the oil industry, say President Obama is at fault for halting new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky claims that some in the Obama administration “are actively working to prevent us from increasing our own oil production here at home.”
Mr. Obama rejects those arguments, maintaining that US production of oil is at the highest level since 2003 and includes record output in the Gulf. “So any notion that my administration has shut down oil production might make for a good political sound bite, but it doesn’t match up with reality,” Obama said March 11.
On the issue of Libya, some GOP politicians criticized Obama in early and mid-March for what they saw as a hesitant US stance. However, on March 18, after a United Nations resolution backing action, European nations and the US began taking steps to enforce a no-fly zone.
Other politicians point fingers at speculators. Sen. Bill Nelson (D) of Florida wants federal regulators to raise margin requirements for buying oil-futures contracts. He cites economist Edward Yardeni as noting that large speculators had increased their holdings by 89.7 percent in a recent five-week period. But Mr. Yar-deni also believes that once the dust settles in the Middle East, gas prices will fall.
