At a crucial point in the presidential race, President Barack Obama defended his energy policies but offered no reprieve from the climbing gas prices. As is the norm, gas prices slowly creep up with summer just around the corner, but this year they began even earlier in the year. In fact, gas prices are a staggering 25 cents per gallon above the norm for this time of year. President Obama's gas policies strive to wean America off of imported oil, which makes up a large majority of the gasoline consumed in our nation. Aside from the normal trend of increasing prices this time of year, the unusual skyrocketing rates can be attributed to the tensions in the Middle East, where Iran threatened to retaliate against the West following their sanctions over its nuclear program (Landler). .
President Obama's energy policies involve a combination of increasing domestic production of oil while also reducing our reliance on gasoline via tougher automotive emission standards, a tactic that has come to be referred to as an "all-of-the-above" approach. According to Obama, there is no one tactic that can decrease these prices, especially considering the turmoil in the Middle East. Instead, Obama is relying on many different factors to ultimately make an impact on the United States' oil problems, although he admits this probably won't happen this year (Landler). .
"Any effective energy policy is almost inevitably going to be a hodgepodge," said Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations. "There is no silver bullet that deals with the energy challenges we face" (Landler).
"Just like last year, gas prices are climbing across the country - this time, it's happening even earlier. And when gas prices go up, it hurts everybody," Obama explained to University of Miami students, acknowledging that he is aware of the harsh repercussions rising oil prices will have on the economy given its healing state (Landler).
