How the Economy can End Obama Presidency

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Did the Chicago Gang Fail to Read the Tea Leaves?

It is really great when the political advisors to a president seem to have control of the presidential campaign like the Obama team from Chicago.  David Axelrod and David Plouffe control the campaign and control White House policy as it impacts on the campaign.

After all the broken promises from the first campaign like energy independence and stopping Iran's nuclear program they have adopted a new strategy for the 2012 re-election and it seems like it is based on a couple of guiding principles.

Obama economic and energy principles

"What - me worry?"

"No problem..."

You see, the most under-rated economic barometers of presidential performance by the media, as I have pointed out in numerous articles over the last six years, are the oil and gas prices in America.

Media Deception?

Many people have acknowledged the mainstream media favoritism toward President Obama which is well documented by both your eyes watching and listening to the news, and independent media watchdogs.

A couple of examples are appropriate as evidence.  First, there has been a lot of recent publicity about the success Obama is having with the economy.  And second, the media has stopped reporting on Brent Crude Oil on the international commodity futures market.

Why you might ask did they drop the media attention?  It is not good news for the president. In fact the less said by the media about commodity prices the better because none of the energy news is good for the president.  It might conflict with the happy face Obama appearing the bloob tube.

Here are the facts.

When Obama took office the price of gasoline was $1.85 a gallon.  Today it is over $3.64 a gallon and projected to rise as high as $5.00 a gallon this fall.

Light crude oil has gone from $30.28 a barrel when Obama took office to over $104.00 a barrel today.

Brent Crude, the item the media has stopped reporting and conveniently minimizes the impact of Middle East events on world oil prices, has gone from $35.27 a barrel when he got elected to over $121.88 today.  It may reach $150.00 a barrel this fall according to some experts.

Whether you use Obamanomics or legitimate accounting, the price of gas and oil has spiraled up in the Obama years and more than doubled gas prices and more than tripled oil prices.

But oil may also expose another weakness for Obama, because the Brent oil price also reflects the impact of events in the European zone such as the Greece debt problems or the Iranian oil cutoff.

In other words there can be failures in foreign policy like underestimating the Iranian response to sanctions Obama advocated, that can also impact on our domestic ec0nomy by driving up oil and gas prices.

Instability in the Middle East can have a dramatic and sustained impact on world oil and gas prices here in America.  When Iran cutoff oil to France and the UK this week Brent crude shot up again.  This will greatly aggravate the European recession and reduce USA sales to Europe.

The Obama team was hoping to keep attention off these economic and foreign policy failures with their long term economic impact but you really can't manipulate the financial markets or the knowledge of the American people.  They are reminded of the truth every time they fill the gas tank.

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Obamaville & GOP Primary Campaign

Obamaville January 17, 2012

With the presidential election just 9 1/2 months away and the South Carolina primary this weekend perhaps it is a good time to review the current state of affairs.

On the GOP side Romney is headed for the nomination although watch for Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Ron Paul to keep things lively for a few more primaries. None have a chance to catch Romney but the news networks are working overtime to keep them in the race both to damage Romney's position against Obama and to keep up the already rather dismal TV ratings.

Truth is Romney wins in South Carolina and Florida this month could end the contest.  No doubt Ron Paul will stay in, probably until the convention.  While Obama campaign leaders want Romney to be bloodied by Paul and the others, me thinks the Chicago backroom boys are miscalculating the Paul impact.

Truth also is Ron Paul is not costing Romney votes.  Paul pulls the youth (Democrats) and Independents and those are the two groups that gave Obama his narrow win in 2008.  The longer Paul stays in the more votes he costs Obama and the general election is already too close to call.

At least the primaries so far have seen Romney withstand a withering and blistering stream of attacks from his opponents, the Obama thugs, the news media and the Democratic pit bulls.

Conventional wisdom from the Democratic pundits and news media is Romney can't win the conservatives or Christian right therefore he is the best opponent for the billion dollar kid, our President Obama.

Do they really think the conservatives or evangelicals could embrace Obama over a Republican after the three year on the job training record of Obama?  The Obama boys from Illinois may know what makes Chicago tick, I mean the last two governors of that state are in jail, but they do a very arrogant and horrible job of reading Joe Six Pack.

As if the economy alone, yes Obama's economy, is not enough to toss the gang out of the White House and Congress, and the billion dollars Obama will spend to get re-elected is not insulting to the whole concept of democracy and free elections, they have bigger problems than Romney.

When Obama took office in 2009 crude oil sold for $36.51 per barrel and the cost of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85.  Just three years after he took control of the economy the price of crude oil is now $101.56 a barrel and gasoline is $3.44 a gallon.  According to conventional math that is a 278% increase in crude oil and 186% increase in gasoline in just three years. Some management of the economy.

That means the price of not just gasoline but everything derived from oil like cosmetics, plastics, fertilizers, and thousands of other items people use every day will continue skyrocketing right up until election day.  We won't be better off under Obama, we will be broke.  Of course he can blame that on Congress but Obama doesn't even have an energy policy for independence that Congress can vote up or down.

So besides the lack of much of anything in the record of the Obama team, the still sputtering economy, and in spite of the billion dollar campaign war chest built up by Obama while he was supposed to be governing, what else could go wrong for him?

How about a Republican National Convention surprise?  One of two things could happen at the GOP convention that could radically alter the election in November.  If Romney wins the presidential nomination as expected he could pick either Chris Christie of New Jersey or Marco Rubio of Florida for Vice President.

Christie would not just solidify the conservative and social conservative vote but would energize them with his no holds barred campaign and governing style and it has been a long time since we have had a leader like Reagan not afraid to stand up and fight for the people.

Rubio would seriously erode Obama's need to maintain the Hispanic vote in order to win, and he would also pull the conservative, evangelical and Tea Party voters.  Yet another potential powerhouse ally for Romney, both Christie and Rubio would also appeal to a lot of Independents.

So in spite of what the Obama campaign says there may still be a lot of surprises ahead for the those who think the White House is for sale to the highest bidder.