Gas Prices Compound Obama's Agony

Well, it's collapsing all around the Democrat ticket, no doubt.

And here's this, at The Hill, "Obama faces dilemma over gas prices as presidential campaign hits homestretch":

President Obama faces a dilemma as Mitt Romney bashes him over high gasoline prices in the final weeks of their close race.

Obama must decide whether to address the attacks head-on, or stay the course on a messaging strategy that has recently been addressing prices indirectly.

Democratic strategists and other experts argue that three weeks before voters go to the polls, Obama should steer clear of big messaging or policy pivots on gas prices.

“Bringing the issue up this close to Election Day would be self-defeating at this point,” said Paul Bledsoe, an independent consultant who was a climate change aide in the Clinton White House.
Dramatic action on energy appears unlikely before the election even as the campaigns tweak their closing arguments.

White House officials have said in recent months that a release from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an option on the table. But speculation about the prospect has dimmed in recent weeks as oil prices have fallen off their summer highs that reached around $100-per-barrel in mid-September.

Prices closed Friday at $91.86-per-barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Democratic political strategist Michael Stratton said that tapping the SPR would damage Obama.

“Anything with gas prices that would be perceived as manipulative at this point would work against him, and would be perceived by everybody so cynically that it would be ineffective,” he said.

Average nationwide gasoline prices are currently $3.79-per-gallon and have for weeks been setting records for the highest prices on specific days of the year, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). Prices, though, have been dropping in recent days.

Also, the current national average has been skewed upward by the major recent price spike in California, which saw average Golden State prices jump a half-dollar in a week to reach $4.67 on Oct. 9 before falling back, according to AAA.

Well, it just sucks to be Obama, doesn't it?

At the photo, the ARCO station at the corner of Del Amo and Woodruff in Lakewood, where I fill up on the way home from work. Regular unleaded is $4.47 a gallon, down about 10 cents or so from the last time I filled up over there.