Fuel Prices and Press Secretaries -- 4/26/06
In the face of record high gas prices and blockbuster profits for the oil industry, but record low opinion ratings (he just hit 32% in one recent poll), President Bush announced yesterday several steps the administration would take to lower oil prices. (Jim VandeHei and Steven Mufson, Bush Calls for Probe of Rising Gas Prices, WaPo, 4/26/06.) These include temporarily stopping additions to the nation’s oil reserves and considering easing Environmental Protection Agency regulations to promote clean fuel. You can read about his plan in any major paper today. See the LA Times, however, for a concise explanation of Why Gas Prices Won’t Go Down (Elizabeth Douglass, April 26, 2006). Basically, the problem keeping prices high isn’t about low supply -- we have plenty of oil right now -- it is about concerns for the future, with an uncertain situation in the Middle East and a growing demand in India and China. As the article points out, the world’s energy crisis isn’t going to be solved by short-term remedies –- the best solutions are medium and long term. As we suggest in the What’s at Stake in Chapter 17 of KTR, such solutions are politically controversial in the United States and reveal deep seated ideological differences. USA Today does a nice job of detailing the efforts of past presidents to deal with the same issue. (Bush, Predecessors, Look for Response to Rising Oil Prices, 4/26/06.)
Also in the news this morning is the acceptance by Fox News commentator Tony Snow (a former speech writer for Bush’s father) of the White House Press Secretary job being vacated by Scott McClellan. (Jim Rutenberg, Fox Commentator to Join White House, Officials Say, NYT, 4/26/06.) Given Fox’s positive coverage of the Bush administration, this appointment has given rise to a variety of late night TV jokes about whether Snow will get back pay for his previous support for the president, but as libertarian blogger Andrew Sullivan points out, Snow has also been critical of Bush for expanding the size of the government and the budget. McClellan was kept on a pretty tight leash of White House officials but Snow has reportedly bargained for a voice in policy discussions as a part of his new job. It will be interesting to see whether that will free him to do more than repeat the canned statements of his predecessor. See KTR, p. 657, for a definition of the revolving door (a phenomenon Snow illustrates nicely) and pp. 668-669, for a discussion of news management in the Bush administration. Is Snow’s journalism background a help or a hindrance to him in his new job? Are there ethical issues involved?