Bush's Gas Gaffe
By Marie Cocco
WA****NGTON-Of all the reasons to be hopping mad, helplessly shaking your
head or hoping beyond reasonable hope that somehow the Bush presidency
will
get better before it ends, blaming the president for failure to know the
price of gas at the pump isn't one of them.
Blaming President Bush for failing to implement anything close to a
rational
economic policy-dithering as the American economy sinks toward crisis-is.
You have to feel a bit sorry for Bush. At his news conference last week,
the
president revealed that he had no idea that some analysts are projecting
that gas prices will soon hit $4 a gallon. "That's interesting," the
president mused aloud. "I hadn't heard that."
Now, re****ters always get excited when a politician doesn't know the price
of gas (or milk, or bread, or eggs-you get the picture). Such lapses
inevitably become metaphors for out-of-touch politicians who don't give a
hoot for the everyday struggles of average people. But really, on this
one,
even I'm willing to give Bush a break. He hasn't driven himself around for
at least seven years and certainly doesn't frequent the self-serve pumps
to
fill his own tank.
No, Bush's gas-price gaffe is better seen as a speck on the broader canvas
of the president's detached approach to the economy. Generally, he
believes
that everything is hunky-dory so long as he can point to his tax cuts as
an
all-purpose panacea. He did it again at the very same news conference
where
he seemed to be mystified by $4-a-gallon gas: "If you're out there
wondering
whether or not-you know, what your life is going to be like and you're
looking at $4 a gallon, that's uncertain," Bush said. "And when you couple
that with the idea that their taxes may be going up in a couple of years,
that's double uncertainty. And therefore, one way to deal with uncertainty
is for Congress to make the tax cuts permanent."
Got that?
Tax cuts that do not expire for two years, and which overwhelmingly flow
toward those who are most able to afford expensive gas, are supposed to
provide some kind of economic lift now, if only Bush could win the
ideological fight over them with the Democratic Congress.
Meanwhile, the subprime mortgage mess is transforming itself into what
amounts to an overall credit crunch; even state and municipal governments
are now having more difficulty borrowing. The dollar has fallen so much
that
at this point, its weakness is contributing in part to the recent run-up
on
international oil prices as speculators look to oil as a safer place to
put
their money. Wages, stagnant through nearly all of Bush's tenure, have
long
since stopped keeping pace with the costs of such necessities as energy,
health insurance and food.
The financial pages warn almost daily of an economy that may be
down****fting
into a real crisis. But if past performance is to be a guide, Bush himself
won't go into crisis mode until it is way too late. His White House all
but
ignored the threats of a looming terrorist attack in the months before
9/11.
The president's response to the urgent entreaties from weather forecasters
that a killer storm of potentially historic pro****tion was approaching the
Gulf Coast was a shrug-and even after Katrina hit, Bush seemed to be
clueless about the depth of devastation and human suffering.
Terrorists and hurricanes strike quickly. Not so economic catastrophes
that
are months in the making, are foretold with reams of data from private
markets and the government, and can even be seen in such prosaic symbols
as
the proliferation of foreclosure and auction signs along the roadways.
The economic stimulus package the White House and Congress already agreed
upon is fine as far as it goes. Millions of Americans who receive quick
tax
rebates undoubtedly will spend at least some money in ways that prop up
the
economy. But for at least seven years, the evidence of structural problems
in the economy-wage stagnation and the rapid erosion of worker benefits
such
as health insurance and pension coverage-has been on full view.
I don't really want Bush driving around to gas stations or grocery stores
just so that he can always have a ready answer to what-is-the-price-of
questions. I want him to finally show he's ready for the next crisis-the
broad economic crisis-that is brewing on his watch.
Marie Cocco's e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com.
© 2008, Wa****ngton Post Writers Group
We cannot afford anyone who is so clueless to represent us. To a great
extent, the clueless Bush has - in effect - falsely represented the world
in
his lies, distortions, and suppressions of true global warming data,
something impacting the whole globe. Too bad the rest of the world didn't
at
least have part of a vote. We never would have had the plague Bush.
$4 gas----no problem. Cars will become more fuel efficient and soon you
will purchase gasoline by the quart. One dollar per quart is a nice round
figure and sounds like the goal the gas companies were seeking unitl we
have
$5 gas, but that's a nice round figure too----it has a ring to it!!!
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