Obama’s Gulf Coast Tax Hike

(By Vince Haley, National Review Online) - Last night — 57 days after an oil-rig explosion triggered an uncontrolled deep-water oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico — President Obama spoke to the nation about his administration’s efforts to address the crisis. After offering two short paragraphs to explain what is being done to stop the leak, Obama devoted most of his speech to explaining why now is the time to dramatically and permanently raise the cost of gasoline, diesel, and electricity for every American.

Jay Leno gave voice to the widespread puzzlement over this misplaced focus: “President Obama said today he is going to use the Gulf disaster to immediately push a new energy bill through Congress. I got an idea. . . . How about first using the Gulf disaster to fix the Gulf disaster?”