Obama Slams Republicans on High Gasoline Prices

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President Obama told a college audience in Miami on Thursday that Republicans are "licking their chops" over rising gasoline prices, but there is "no silver bullet" that will bring them back down.

"It’s the easiest thing in the world to make phony election-year promises about lower gas prices," Obama said in a speech on energy at the University of Miami. "What’s harder is to make a serious, sustained commitment to tackle a problem that may not be solved in one year or one term or even one decade."

The president slammed GOP candidates for gleefully using high fuel prices as a campaign attack tool. "Only in politics do people greet bad news so enthusiastically," Obama said. "You pay more, and they’re licking their chops?  And you can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas."

Anticipating calls for more domestic oil drilling, Obama said politicians have been making the same demands for 30 years.

"Well the American people aren’t stupid," he said. "You know that’s not a plan — especially since we’re already drilling. It’s a bumper sticker.... If we’re going to take control of our energy future; if we’re going to avoid these gas price spikes down the line, then we need a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy — oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, and more. We need to keep developing the technology that allows us to use less oil in our cars and trucks; in our buildings and plants. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing, and that’s the only real solution to this challenge."

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, Brendan Buck, fired off a statement after Obama’s speech saying the administration has done more to hinder energy development that help it.

“Facing an election, the president would like everyone to forget that gas prices have doubled over the past three years while he consistently blocked and slowed the production of American-made energy,” Buck said. “From his drilling moratorium to his denial of the Keystone pipeline, the president has time and again sided with his liberal base over American families.”