If he allowed drilling then prices in Oregon would bw $2 a gallon and trucks would haul gas south to sell for $2.45

I know it's a longshot, but still waiting on that proof.

Low prices help the poor. But Primo does not care about them.

Tax revenues could be used to help the poor in better ways than low gas prices would, Einstein.

At an environmentalist point of view, high gas prices mean less consumption. However, China is far more inefficient with CO2 waste than the U.S is, and their shady diplomacy has guaranteed them a certain supply of cheap oil. China has done so by making alliances with oil producing countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran. Moreover, by threatening the global balance of power in the Middle East by aiding Iran's nuclear proliferation, China has intimidated Saudi Arabia in to granting them a guaranteed supply of cheap oil as well.

Although I haven't looked in to the math, it seems plausible to me that letting the U.S. consume more oil while restricting China's consumption would have a more positive environmental impact than artificially raising gas prices.

He's openly talked about wanting energy and gas prices to "skyrocket" to radically change consumption and our society.

Regarding gasoline, he

1.  Those of us who have paid attention to what Obama has said know, as Spock does, that he has come right out and said he wants very high gas prices here, and he wants the physical destruction of older car models (Cash for Clunkers required that as a condition of the grant), and he is promoting the Volt which has a radius of less than 50 miles; and his big infrastructure push is: high speed rail-- which doesn't improve the automobile economy one bit.

Barack Obama wants to destroy the automobile economy. He does not want households to have 2 cars or the common worker to hire himself out with a truck.  He wants to make that impossible to afford, unsupported by the auto industry, and regulated out of existence if necessary.  He does it, again, by destroying the viability of alternatives.

He doesn't actually do any of that, but you guys are too deep in your own anti-Obama mentality that it's near impossible to have an actual debate with you.

I'm glad you're so self righteous. I wish I lived in that world too.

Spock, you are right, I absolutely forgot rich people do not use fuel, silly me.

those are all good measures towards energy independence and making sure we are more environmental friendly.

it's still not the same as wanting to destroy the auto industry.

So you are saying Obama has effectively managed to slow down the transporting industry as well as raising prices? That's a great feat.

The problem is your ideology and thinking on how to tackle the the challenges of tomorrow are quite outdated. If you do not start to find real solid alternatives to oil you'll be having this same debate in a few years all over again, but with much more dire consequences.

Could Obama make an effort to lower gas prices? Maybe, even keeping in mind the government does not control gas prices. But I think he is correct for at least trying to raise awareness and some sense of urgency about alternatives.

If you guys are so upset at outrageous gas prices, why don't you go protest outside the offices of your beloved corporations who actually do control gas prices and make billions and billions of profit every year?

So you prefer to hate on someone who may or may not be able to minimally affect gas prices rather than singling out the people who do have control over it and couldn't care less about you if they tried?

I like your logic.

Genesis you bounce from saying "obama doesn't want higher gas prices" to saying "it's great Obama wants higher gas prices" to "Obama doesn't have anything to do with gas prices"  and belitting anybody who doesn't agree with your instant declared opinion.

My point of view is

Obama wants higher gas prices
It's stupid to want higher gas prices
Whatever you think we could do to demand lower gas prices, it'd work a lot better with a sympathetic President.

Invent a motor that works as well as a car, as long as acar, for as cheap as a car, and we'll throw the internal combustion engine away.  But anybody bitching about "urban sprawl" and "carbon emissions" can go spin a wind turbine.  I WANT urban sprawl.  It grows GDP and raises the standard of living.