Faced with the prospect of $5-a-gallon gas this summer, President Obama said today his Justice Department is creating a team to "root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices."Yeah, better hurry up with that. The White House itself is doing its best to deplete existing reserves. See Paul Bedard, "Earth Day Ends Obama's 53,300 Gallon Trip" (via Mememorandum and Doug Powers).
"That includes the role of traders and speculators," Obama said at a town hall-style meeting in Reno, Nev. "We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of American consumers for their own short-term gain."
"This gas issue is serious," Obama said, adding that the best solution is developing alternative energy sources.
$5.00 a Gallon Gas Prices
Here's the photo from last night, after getting gas at the California-Nevada state line. That's a first for me: $5.00 a gallon fuel prices. So I can tell you, it's not the "prospect" of $5.00 gas prices the president will face. He should be facing them right now, freakin' presidential asshat.