Obama campaign: Consumers ‘don’t blame’ the president for gas prices

A top official with President Obama’s reelection campaign expressed confidence Friday that consumers won’t punish Obama politically for rising gas prices and touted “significant accomplishments” on energy, including tougher auto mileage rules.

“They don’t blame the president. They understand what’s going on with the global marketplace,” said Stephanie Cutter, the president’s deputy campaign manager, on MSNBC. “But they also acknowledge that we have to do everything we can to make sure that America is independent and not tied to foreign oil and they appreciate what the president has done.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail have increasingly attacked the White House over gasoline prices amid the recent run-up. Obama’s energy record was already under fire over the bankruptcy of the Energy Department-backed solar company Solyndra.

The White House has moved to rebut attacks on both fronts, an effort that includes a pair of energy-themed speeches over the last week. The Obama campaign used its first advertisement in January to tout the president's overall energy record and to parry attacks over Solyndra from the conservative group Americans for Prosperity.

“We chose to respond because we are not going to sit back and let these untruths be said about the president,” Cutter said Friday. “The president is proud, we are proud of the president’s record on clean energy and on ensuring all options are on the table, an all-of-the-above approach is being taken to ensure that Americans are not dependent on foreign oil.

“We are seeing right now the volatility that comes with being dependent on foreign oil, and we have got some significant accomplishments under our belt, doubling fuel efficiency standards, having the lowest dependency on foreign oil in 16 years, the highest production in eight years — these are real facts,” she added.

Republicans in Congress and on the stump say the White House is keeping too many areas off-limits to drilling, including the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and want faster permitting for drillers on public lands and in Gulf of Mexico areas where development is already authorized.

They have also taken aim at Obama’s rejection of a cross-border permit for the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.

Gasoline has increasingly become the stuff of election-year battles even though policymakers have few options, especially in the near term, to substantially affect prices at the pump, which are tethered to crude oil prices set on global markets.

A new Pew Research Center-Washington Post poll shows that 18 percent of adults surveyed say President Obama is most to blame for rising gasoline costs. The poll generally showed that the public spreads blame among a number of parties and causes. 

Regular gasoline prices are now averaging $3.74 per gallon nationwide and have surged above $4 in some areas, according to AAA.