Obama, Gasoline, and Distortion

It appears that the candidates who would be president lie. Hillary Clinton is paying the price for telling a story of ducking bullets while visiting Bosnia. Plenty of folks pass this off as a misstatement. I have seen bloggers excuse this as all candidates distort the truth.

That must be the case as I have been dumbfounded by the following Obama campaign commercial. This began running in the Philadelphia market a couple days ago. Notice the PA in the web site at the end of the commercial: pa.barackobama.com.

In the commercial Obama claims the price of gasoline is $3.50/gallon while Exxon is making record profits. The problem with that is that gasoline is not that expensive in this area. Here in South Jersey we are about $2.97. In Philadelphia gasoline is about $3.14, in Allentown (where Obama spoke at my alma mater on Monday) gas is about $3.19, in Scranton gas is $3.23, and in Pittsburgh about $3.27.

None of those prices are great, but none of them are close to $3.50 as the would-be president claims we are paying.

Oil prices are the highest ever and oil refineries are switching their gear to summertime gasoline. What most do not understand is that each state has mandates about additives that must be added to gasoline sold. It is expensive to switch processes to meet those mandates. What Sen. Obama does not explain is what he would do about streamlining those processes. Rather, he goes for his liberal base by projecting Exxon and other oil companies as the big bad companies.

I wonder how many Pennsylvanians are stockholders in oil companies. Certainly he is not arguing they shouldn’t be earning their profits. Or is he?

It is disingenuous to ratchet up the rhetoric by using a price-per-gallon that is not representative of those he is pandering to. I am not willing to let the little exaggerations go. These folks want to be president; the standard should be high.



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4 Responses to “Obama, Gasoline, and Distortion”

  1. By Webfoot on Apr 1, 2008

    Interesting. Change that P to a C and it plays well in California, where gas is anywhere from $3.49 to $3.75 per gallon, depending upon where you happen to live.

  2. By Bob on Apr 1, 2008

    True, but Obama is not pandering to CA right now. He did that back`in February. That is when New Jersey was “relevant”.

    Obama is telling Pennsylvanians that we are paying $3.50/gallon. That just isn’t true.

  3. By sef on Apr 1, 2008

    I think you are being more than a little dishonest here. Gas goes up to 3.39 in the lehigh valley (which you reference) for basic unleaded, well over 3.50 for premium blends, & over 4 for diesel. The ad is, therefore, factual. You can check gas prices at http://www.allentowngasprices.com/ & I think at it the companion sites anywhere in the northeast

  4. By Bob on Apr 1, 2008

    “More than a little dishonest”?

    Nice. I quoted my source. If prices have jumped $.15 in a day, then so be it. When I posted last evening, I grabbed the prices from GasBuddy.

    Folks weren’t paying $3.50/gallon in PA when Sen. Obama taped the commercial.

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