After my column about Senator Schumer and gas prices and after a follow-up piece by Seth Lipsky in today's New York Post, the Senate Democratic leader himself is responding to the criticism, posting a tweet saying, "We've struck a chord: the hard right goes hysterical when Dems hold @realdonaldtrump accountable on rising gas prices. Where were they in 2012, when Trump said "Gas prices are at crazy levels - fire Obama!" ? Besides the laughable idea that I am "the hard right," the answer to where Lipsky was back when gas prices soared under Obama is easy: he was writing editorials quoting Obama:
"Now," said President Obama in his most soothing voice, "whenever gas prices shoot up, like clockwork, you see politicians racing to the cameras, waving three-point plans for two dollar gas. You see people trying to grab headlines or score a few points. The truth is, there's no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away."
And Lipsky was writing columns criticizing the Republican-appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke:
Since Bernanke became Fed chairman, the price of an average gallon has soared 54 percent to $3.52, even while the value of the gallon of gas has plunged nearly 33 percent to 1/372nd of an ounce of gold.
In other words, it's not the gas price that is going up, but the dollar that's going down.
It's not the accountability that bothers anyone (except for perhaps Schumer). It's the policies.
