'Confused' Chuck Todd: Don't Blame Obama for Rising Gas Prices
MSNBC's Chuck Todd rattled off a list of reasons to explain the sharp rise in the price of oil – none of which included Barack Obama's offshore drilling moratorium – and was "confused" about why anyone would blame the president for the prospect of $4 per gallon gasoline.
On the April 28 "Daily Rundown," Todd suggested the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing measures and increases in global demand account for the dramatic spike in oil, but he absolved the president of any blame.
"I guess what I'm confused about, how is this an administration – what is it that the president could have done about the price of gasoline?" wondered Todd, interviewing Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
The junior senator from Mississippi retorted that the president should stop "slow-walking" permits for oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico to allow domestic firms to tap into the "plentiful oil resources that we have here in the United States of America."
After making excuses for the Democratic president, Todd boldly asserted that "there doesn't seem to be any expert that believes" Obama could have done anything to prevent the price of gasoline from eclipsing $4 per gallon.
Perhaps the morning anchor meant to say there doesn't seem to be any liberal experts who are criticizing Obama for not doing more to curtail rising gas prices: the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, offered the president some policy advice on this precise issue.
"So what’s the solution?" wrote Mike Brownfield in an April 20 blog post. "The president needs to change course, lift the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf, and open up our domestic resources for exploration."
Heritage colleagues John Ligon and Nicolos Loris echoed Brownfield's assessment, claiming that "increasing access to oil reserves in the U.S., both onshore and offshore, would help offset rising demand, increase jobs, and stimulate the economy."
Responding to Todd's incredulity, Wicker noted that he and 28 senators recently introduced a resolution to "send a message to the president" in support of streamlining the review process for oil permit applications.
And just so NBC's political director knows, Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Mark Begich (Alaska) joined the chorus of congressional opposition to Obama's squelching of offshore oil drilling.
"This de facto shallow water drilling moratorium is having a painful impact on the Gulf Coast's economy," explained Landrieu. "I don't know how much more it will take before this administration understands the harsh consequences of its intransigence."
A transcript of the relevant portions of the segment can be found below:
MSNBC
The Daily Rundown
April 28, 2011
9:11 a.m. EST
CHUCK TODD: I guess what I'm confused about, how is this an administration – what is it that the president could have done about the price of gasoline? I mean, you have an issue with the Federal Reserve pumping money into the economy, pumping more dollars into the world economy. You have global demand. Is there any policy that could have been done that could have stopped $4 per gallon? There doesn't seem to be any expert that believes that.
Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.): I joined with 28 members of the Senate just recently, sending a message to the president, asking him to quit slow-walking the permits. You know, we had the Gulf of Mexico disaster last year, the president cut of drilling there. Then he supposedly lifted the moratorium but the process since then has been to slow-walk the permits and so there's hardly any new drilling that's going on in the Gulf of Mexico. If the president would take that action, and if we were to have a national energy policy of using the plentiful oil resources that we have here in the United States of America, it would do a lot to bring down the price of a barrel of oil worldwide and it would certainly help us here in the United States of America. That is the action that the president has failed to take in allowing us to get back to drilling our own oil.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Alright, Senator Roger Wicker, we got to leave it there, we're out of time, it's good to have you with us, sir. And keep us posted on the situation in Mississippi. Our thoughts are with the people of that state.
--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
Gasoline prices going through
Submitted by jdhawk on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 6:21pm.
Gasoline prices going through the roof and the lamestream media meme: "there doesn't seem to be any expert that believes" Obama could have done anything to prevent the price of gasoline from eclipsing $4 per gallon."
28 Senators send a letter to the president identifying the problem and demanding a resolution and the lamestream media meme: "there doesn't seem to be any expert that believes" Obama could have done anything to prevent the price of gasoline from eclipsing $4 per gallon."
There hasn't been a national energy policy by duhbama or his "energy" secretary and none are proposed and the lamestream media meme: ""there doesn't seem to be any expert that believes" Obama could have done anything to prevent the price of gasoline from eclipsing $4 per gallon."
Savannah Gutherie signs off the segmet by adding this, ""there doesn't seem to be any expert that believes" Obama could have done anything to prevent the price of gasoline from eclipsing $4 per gallon."
The sky is blue and did I mention that, """there doesn't seem to be any expert that believes" Obama could have done anything to prevent the price of gasoline from eclipsing $4 per gallon."
duhbama, there is something that the American people can do November 2012 and that is vote your sorry a** out of office along with the useless senate dimocrats that are now in the majority there.
Yahoo news AP spin also
Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:08pm.
Headline: $4-a-gallon gas may be lifting your fund portfolio
AP – Thu Apr 28, 5:38 pm ET
BOSTON - Think positive. The pain you're feeling at the pump from $4-a-gallon gas may become a little easier to bear once you receive your next quarterly mutual fund statement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110428/ap_on_bi_co_ne/us_of_mutual_interest...
-- Maximusbraveheart -- Is TRUTH knowable? Moral Relativism is the abandonment of Truth. Truth is knowable. Truth conforms to Reality. Reality is observable by evidence & witness in this day & from history. Relativism is Sesame Street play land.
I was busy buying food and paying my mortgage
Submitted by Master-of-Disaster on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 3:08pm.
Dang it! While I was busy buying food, paying my mortgage, paying down my debt (which it the most positive thing I could do to offset the horrible economy for my own family, I didn't buy freakin mutual funds. All this talk of the stock market going up is great FOR THE PEOPLE WHO CAN AFFORD TO BUY STOCK! the majority of Americans are trying to survive and no one is listening. Back when the economy was good I did invest a little all along figuring Social Security would never be there when I hit the golden years. I knew that twenty years ago. When the economy headed south I quit investing, liquidated a bunch of miscellaneous retirement vehicles, took a bath in taxes but paid down debt. The major retirement funds I had going tanked, who knows what the hell they were invested in. I am sure they were tied to the housing bubble or something. In any case, I am almost out of debt and keeping the wolf away from the door for now. Don't know what the hell lies ahead but now we are just holding on in self defense like the rest of America. Seems like that get an education, work hard, save a little for a rainy day and good things will happen for you in America was a huge crock of Shiite!
Chuck Todd believes
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 6:43pm.
Gasoline prices going through the roof and the lamestream media meme: "there doesn't seem to be any expert that believes" Obama could have done anything to prevent the price of gasoline from eclipsing $4 per gallon. Todd believes; This is true because we know that the present high prices are a result of theBush/Cheney adhearance to the evil oil companies policies. The Messiah would do something but he has just became aware of these policies.
Chuck Todd Confused!
Submitted by Comrade Jim on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 6:49pm.
Is that noteworthy? Is that worth a column on NB?
It is hard to believe that NBC pays money for this kind of reporting.
I assume Todd isn't an intern working for no salary.
BTW, MSNBC is offering a $10,000 reward
Submitted by SickofLibs on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 6:54pm.
for any information related to the disappearance of Chuck Todd's chin.
And an extra $10,000 for his brain...
Submitted by Mary Louise Turner on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:57pm.
I'd put in an extra $10,000 to find Mr. Todd's brain!
I guess F Chuck has plenty of "confused" coworkers at NBC,
Submitted by lsudolemite on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 7:25pm.
including Haynes and Burnett this morning on CNBC, who talked about gas prices and both fretted in exasperation: "Well! There's just nothing he (Obama) can do about it!" Don't worry, though, I'm sure they gave W the same absolution 3 years ago.
Truth is beautiful and horrible
Submitted by Slyrr on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 7:44pm.
I've heard people wondering, 'How come Obama's not being blamed for high gas prices??'
Duh.
It's because this president, who was created and groomed by the media, and more than any other president in history, has the entire mainstream media firmly in his pocket - under his boot - and humping his leg.
He could be caught performing abortions and they'd cover it up.
F. Chuck Todd
Submitted by ripper58 on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 7:45pm.
useful idiot
Except he's not useful.
Submitted by JeffC... on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 8:29pm.
Except he's not useful.
Useless as tits on a boar hog...
Submitted by Red Jeep on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 8:34pm.
comes to mind.
I happen to agree with Chuck
Submitted by Smartypants on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 8:31pm.
I happen to agree with Chuck Todd. There is not a whole lot a president can do to impact short term spikes in gasoline prices. Sure, drilling and a more defined energy policy might dampen the speculators somewhat, but it would not have a huge effect in the short term. The problem I have with the media in all of this is that people like Chuck Todd and his ilk blamed GW Bush incessantly for the gas price jump during his term, and it was not even as quick and as high as this increase has been. The double standard is absurd. Increase in gas prices under Obama, oh well nothing he can do about it. Increase in gas prices under Bush, he's an evil tyrant who only cares about making money for his "oil buddies". Right.
Where do they hide the "I luv Obama" mugs and shirts...
Submitted by Red Jeep on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 8:38pm.
...when the camera is on?
Let's send them some "Hypocrisy R US" coffee mugs to adorn their news desks.
Say "Drill"
Submitted by m1xram on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 5:36am.
I remember when Bush said he would allow more drilling. Just the act of saying it drove the price down. Pretty impressive.
Obama is the opposite, he doesn't want the price of oil to go down, he wants it to skyrocket. It will make the U.S. weaker, help keep more people unemployed, and cause all other prices to increase. Eventually the people will cry out for a savior. That's when it gets really bad, when we give emergency powers to some Progressive and we end up as slaves in their Socialist utopia.
Toward that end we have Quantitative Easing. As the price of oil is tied to the U.S. dollar, increasing the supply of U.S. dollars forces the price of oil up for the entire world. Obama and Bernanke know this. They also know that anything that uses oil will increase in price such as air, truck, and car travel, and any agriculture product. It's a two-for, devalue your dollars while forcing up costs.
Obama and Bernanke are not incompetent, they are malicious. "The ends justify the means."
The opposite of Left is Freedom.
I don't get it?
Submitted by Rycher660 on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 8:34pm.
Gas goes through the roof under Bush's watch... and it was all his fault
Gas goes through the roof under Obama's watch... and we can't blame him, because, there's nothing he could or can do about it...
The moment gas prices start
Submitted by gopsteve on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 8:36pm.
The moment gas prices start to fall, the lamestream media will fall over themselves giving Obama credit...you will see.
Up Chuck Todd
Submitted by blazermaniac on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 8:57pm.
It's PMSNBC! Nobody with any talent, works at PMSNBC! And, Savannah Guthrie is no prize, either!
What else could Up-Chuck Todd say?
Submitted by djwolf12 on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:18pm.
He needs to throw his slimy RED (Communist) Herring out there to deflect the attention of the Bumbler in Chief over to The Oil Companies, Wall Street, Halliburton, Bush/Cheney. By the Way, where was MSNBC's dedication week to the anniversary of the BP oil spill? Also, STARBUCKS (a Liberal overly expensive coffee outfit) led the nation in first quarter PROFITS. Will Morning Schmoe and his ditzy sidekick Bubbles condemn Starbucks for making too much $$$$ (even though Starbucks sponsors their show? Will Obama and his minions shake them down to "make sure everyone behind them gets a fair chance with redistributing those profits?
Was it Bush's fault when
Submitted by dgv on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:37pm.
Gas was 4+ bucks a gallon in 2008?
Can a relatively small amount of domestic oil production 10 years from now decrease the global price of oil today?
Per the media it was Bush's fault in 2008
Submitted by Okieflyover on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:42pm.
And dont believe the liberal lie that it takes 10 years to bring oil to market from a new well. Offshore isn't the only place that Obama is stopping drling and exploration. But even an offshore well is less than a year from exploration to production. This would greatly impAct prices which are set by futures.
Inflation is the issue.
Submitted by Okieflyover on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:38pm.
Obama has printed trillions of dollars in the last 2 years. Oil demand is not up. It is actually down about 3%.
I don't think Obama or Geithner could pass a 1000 level macro economics course without a cheat sheet.
When gas went to $4 when Bush
Submitted by rbosque on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:43pm.
When gas went to $4 when Bush was President, Pelosi had no qualms about blaming GW for the price increase. Now, even though Obama's fiscal and non-drilling policies are having a direct effect on not only gas prices, but as a consequence food prices and the decreasing value of the dollar, Obama won't be blamed.
Even if lightening should strike the WH on Easter....oh wait.
4 bucks?
Submitted by Boudin on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 10:07pm.
Hhmm
Well, gas is as high now as it has ever been. Please, lets not let them rewrite that as well.
Please
Submitted by gwalt on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 9:44pm.
Please let's stop calling them the Mainstream Media. They represent 15-20 %.Tthat is not Mainstream. I sincerely believe NB should start a PR camapign to call them the Leftstream Media.
"A lot of briefing for a 2 hr. special with Dan Rather. Saw the show & wonder why we bothered". Ronald Reagan
Right on gwalt
Submitted by PoolPlayer on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:00am.
You are right. Fox News is more mainstraim than ABC, ...
LITTLE CHUCKY IS CONFUSED.......
Submitted by Herbster on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 10:04pm.
Chuck Todd......mediapimp poster boy......
Savannah Guthrie.......useless idiot.
Taxes on Gas Higher than Oil Profits
Submitted by Retired Geek on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 10:39pm.
Many have asked how much of the ObamaGas™ and ObamaDiesel™ per gallon costs are Taxes and NOT the actual costs of drilling, transporting, refining and selling. This does NOT include research and fees for leasing drilling sites.
Many have asked why are ObamaGas™ and ObamaDiesel™ per gallon costs different in my State, City or Locale, from other areas?
The charts in this post should answer most if not all of those questions - see for yourself.
http://thpatriots.blogspot.com/2011/04/gasoline-and-diesel-taxes-combine...
It is the government.
Submitted by The Vet on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 11:57pm.
We have a glut of natural gas right now due to the new technique of fracking. It came online and increased our natural gas reserve exponentially. The regulators in the government were caught off guard and did not have a chance to step on the throats of natural gas producers in time.
Oil is still pretty much even on supply and demand. The world is producing about just enough to meet the demand. The oil industry is tightly regulated in this country. Restricted even.
Here in California I paid $4.80 last month for each block of 1,000 cubic feet of nat gas that I consumed from my local utility company. 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas has about 1 million BTUs of energy although it can vary slightly depending on where the gas came from. From this logic I paid $4.80 for each 1 million BTUs of energy that I consumed from natural gas.
Refined gasoline has about 120,000 BTUs per gallon, but again it depends on where the oil came from, the precise refining process, and how much ethanol and other additives the gasoline contains. Thus, it takes about 8 gallons of gasoline to produce 1,000,000 BTUs of energy. According to Gasbuddy.com the average price today in the USA for a gallon of gasoline is $3.35. Thus, it costs about $27.92 to produce 1 million BTUs of energy from refined gasoline.
Thus, gasoline is almost 6 times as expensive as natural gas on a per unit energy basis.
President Obama and the regulatory regime of this country could get off the throat of oil producers and let us have a similar revolution in oil much as the Shale Gale of natural gas we have experienced lately.
Supply and Demand still counts. And we are limiting the supply of oil.
What did I tell you? What did I just get done saying?
Submitted by The Vet on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 6:25am.
Seriously, do I do this to hear myself speak?
The Vet: ...the new technique of fracking. It came online and increased our natural gas reserve exponentially. The regulators in the government were caught off guard and did not have a chance to step on the throats of natural gas producers...
What do I read in the WSJ just hours later?
What about natural gas? Huge reservoirs of shale gas have been unlocked by hydrofracking. But "fracking" has been able to proceed so rapidly only because it has been exempted from federal regulations governing air and water pollution. Now that concern has arisen about damaged aquifers, natural gas production may slow as well.
I spend my time paying attention. Constantly updating my brain. And what do I get for the trouble. I come here and the place is crawling with idiot idiot idiot hateful little birther snits that whine because a President is ineligible for office because his daddy was a ferner, when it was known by all at the time he was elected that his daddy was a ferner. Oh and the birth certificate was forged and there was no Kapiolani hospital in 1961 and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I am out of here. Enjoy the birthers. I came here to knock heads with left wing trolls. All I see nowadays in hateful little idiot snit trolls on the right.
Bye.
Submitted by beauxdog on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 7:04am.
Bye.
Whatever.
Submitted by The Vet on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 7:49am.
beauxdog: The founding fathers included the "Natural Born Citizen" clause because they feared an individual, raised on foreign, anti-american ideas, would be elected. In other words, the clause was included to prevent Obama. It didn't work.
What did I say? What did I tell you? It was known, fully known by the entire planet that the man had one American parent only. And yet 69,456,897 voted for him. He got 365 elected representative votes in the electoral college. The vote was confirmed by Congress. And yet we are to now believe the President of the United States can be unseated because beauxdog suddenly had an inspiration based on suntin he saw on the intertubes. Up yours idiot.
Oh and thanks for the snark.
President Gasbag
Submitted by Crash on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 7:09am.
Oil is only a small part of forcing up the cost of gasoline. We could pump every one of our wells dry, but, if we don't have the refinement capability to process raw product we're still screwed.
Will your State build a new refinery in your backyard? Can they? How fast?
How many blends of fuel does your State demand to satisfy government regulations and restrictions?
Once the refinery processes the fuel will they be able to sell it on the open market, or, will it be restricted to US markets?
Will our lofty notion of environmental standards add so much to the cost that gas stations will import rather than buy fuel Made in the USA?
I've read several promising articles on hydrogen fuel cells. Yes, I realize that we would need hydrogen refueling stations for most hydrogen technologies, but, hydrogen seems to have more pros than cons over all of the subsidized crap that the government keeps cramming down our tax burdened throats in the name of the environment. Our declaration of dependence does not wear well on this patriots soul.
Hey Up Chuck
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 9:33am.
are you that stupid? Ever hear of supply and demand? When the supply goes down and the demand remains the same, what happens to the price? Duh.
And by the way, it's already at 4.50. I paid that amount for 93 octane gas this week. You think if we produced more that would bring down the prices? Hmm, let me see. What a drone!
We could squeeze oil out of chuck's hair....
Submitted by notinstl on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 10:03am.
...this greaseball is either pretending to be stupid or working for obama....probably both...
What about the role of inflation? Nobody is talking about
Submitted by VanPastorMan on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 4:43pm.
how we've been printing money like crazy. This has a lot to do with food and gas prices going up.
Obama told Americans he was going to raise gas prices!
Submitted by sara123 on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 12:51pm.
He said he'd raise gas prices to $7.00 per gallon. He was not kidding. He would appear to be doing all he can to bring down our economy and he's been successful. He told us he was going to do it and the sheeple voted for him anyway because they wanted diversity racism and wealth transfer - increased welfare for the Left's diversity mobs.
The only thing is, people on fixed income (welfare wealth transfer recievers) are harmed the worst when Obama reaches his inflationary goal of raising the price of fuel. Everyone who has lived longer than twenty years understands this simple economic cause and effect. You don't even have to be literate or a major in math to understand that the cost of fuel is a part of the cost of everything we purchase in this country. Do Americans diversity's love skin deep tribal socialist doctrines more than they love survival - that is the question we face in the next election. Because really, poor people are soon going to be choosing between heating their abodes and eating.