Victor Davis Hanson
As gas nears $5/gallon out west, the president, who has cancelled a key pipeline and frozen federal leases from Alaska to the East Coast, teaches us about American algae potential, in the way he used to emphasize the importance of tire pressure and "tune-ups." He castigates the opposition for making political hay out of bad news, in the way he routinely did as a senator in compiling the most partisan voting record in the Senate. Energy Secretary Chu cannot and will not say a word about soaring gas prices, since he is on record not so long ago hoping that they might double - that is, get to $8-10/gallon as they are in Europe. The Energy Department can do almost everything Americans don't want, but not the single thing they do want.
The treasury secretary who oversaw $5 trillion in new debt, and who oversees an IRS that he himself not long ago tried to short, lectures us that a premium in taxes must be paid for the fact of our being born American. The first lady, who cannot keep from vacationing at Costa del Sol, Vail, Aspen, and Martha's Vineyard, keeps reminding us, who do not go to those tony retreats or $30,000/plate fundraisers, that we must pay our fair share to a nearly insolvent government to help it help the less fortunate, 50% of whom pay no income taxes.
And always, in the midst of these problems, we hear of a "they" who caused all of the above.
The buck used to stop there (at the Oval Office), but the "there" has changed. The there is now us.
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