[Hoot Gibson]

I remember gas prices being high under bush and Obama. So why was they high under bush if its Obama's fault.

When prices peaked under Bush, the global economy was doing well and the unemployment rate was well under 6 percent. As the recession deepened, prices began to decline and bottomed out about the time of the bank bailouts.

Expectations play a major role in setting gas prices. When the economy was booming under Bush, people expected gas prices to rise in the future. That changed with the financial crisis, so prices dropped sharply.

With Obama's war on oil and coal, people expect prices to rise in the future even though the global economy still has not recovered in most parts of the world, including the US. Our unemployment rate is still above 8 percent and gas consumption is still down sharply from the pre-recession levels. Normally, gas prices would be much lower than they are, yet they have broken record highs for this time of year.

The federal government's policies can help manage expectations by assuring the population that it is doing everything possible to keep energy prices low and to ensure that there will be no shortage of supplies in the forseeable future.

Obama and the Democrats have done the exact opposite to what needs to be done. They have been blocking drilling of oil in areas like ANWR for years. While arguing at times that it would take 8 to 10 years or more to develop those reserves (so, they reason it would not provide immediate relief to high gas prices), they have dumped billions of dollars into alternative energy companies that will not be competitive with carbon based fuels for decades.

There is a logical argument to be made that high oil prices will hasten the adoption of alternative fuels, but left wing ideologues like Obama are not being honest and making that argument. That is why Secretary Chu's comments are so noteworthy. He appears to be stating the honest policy goals of the administration. People who fervently want this country to abandon oil and coal know that their vision will only become reality when alternative fuels become the cheapest energy alternative.

The problem with that kind of thinking is that our major economic competitors have no intention of abandoning cheaper energy sources like oil and coal, and energy price costs are a major component of the cost of manufactures consumer products. China opens a new coal-fired power plant every week, while our own government seeks to drive energy prices ever higher and force the adoption of more expensive energy sources.

I have been saying for years that the biggest reason that the US has seen millions of jobs exported to other countries is not cheap labor costs but government policies that place our companies at a competitive disadvantage. I never expected that we would ever elect a president who lacked an "America first" attitude but that is exactly what happened in 2008.

The argument can be made that beginning with George H. W. Bush, all of our recent presidents have worked toward establishing a new world order and to "spread the wealth" around the world but Obama has taken that concept to a new level. The ratification of NAFTA under Clinton accelerated our rate of decline, but Bush I laid the groundwork for that treaty.