Finally, there's someone with a brain on gasoline prices. No, it's certainly not John McCain or Hillary Clinton, both of whom have resorted to the most pitiful pandering imaginable (Clinton actually says she'll "sue OPEC for not producing oil from wells they haven't drilled yet" - bwahahahahah!). No, the voice of rationality doesn't come from a politician at all, but from a Hill staffer named Bill Wicker, spokesperson for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
"I think the overall frame of the Democratic bill is to try to get at the root causes of a price increase," said Wicker. "Everyone acknowledges that there's very little you can do in the near term to reduce gasoline prices, but there are steps that can be taken now that will help set the stage for reducing gasoline prices down the road."
Actually, I don't even fully agree with this framing, as the #1 long-term goal for oil shouldn't be to reduce its price per se, but to slash its consumption (and thereby the total amount of money we spend on oil, most of which comes from overseas). Still, Mr. Wicker's statement is infinitely more intelligent than the pabulum we hear coming from the mouths of John McCain and Hillary Clinton, both of whom apparently fall into the typical Washington "say anything to get elected" model of politics, not to mention the "assume people are so stupid they'll never figure it out" model. Fortunately, there are people like Bill Wicker -- and Barack Obama -- out there who know better.