NLPC Associate Fellow Paul Chesser was interviewed on Cavuto on the Fox Business Network on March 13. Here is a transcript:
Neil Cavuto: Well, Energy Secretary Steven Chu back on the Hill and backpedaling.
Unidentified Congressman: Are you saying that you no longer share the view that we need to figure out how to boost gasoline prices in America?
Steven Chu: I no longer share that view. These prices well could have – well affect the comeback of our economy and we’re very worried about that and so of course, we don’t want the price of gasoline to go up. We want it to go down.
Neil Cavuto: All right. So Steven Chu actually backing off what he had said back then but Paul Chesser of the National Legal and Policy Center still says the guy’s got to go and now. You know, I know he’s a professor by training. I mean, I don’t think he’s ready for these type of grilling, few are , but he’s handled himself so poorly. I don’t care if you supportive of the administration or not, now he’s approached embarrassment.
Paul Chesser: Right. Well, he’s an academic put into a political role that he wasn’t prepared for and Neil, Rush Limbaugh famously said that he hoped President Obama fails and they ought to be taking victory laps. I mean, they are accomplishing what they said they wanted to do. Steven Chu said that he wanted to see your prices reach European levels. President Obama said wants to see electricity necessarily skyrocket to push their green energy schemes. And so what they are..
Neil Cavuto: But I don’t think they envisioned all of this happening right before the election. I mean, I think they were hoping that it would be after the election so it wouldn’t be detrimental to the re-election.
Paul Chesser: Well, that’s exactly right. What we’re seeing now is a switch from policy ideas and goals to political ideals and goals and very contradicting to each other that they’ve got they’ve boxed themselves into a corner. Triple A is saying that, we’re not even, haven’t even reached the summer peak that we usually reach for gas prices. They say, maybe we may hit four dollars and twenty five cents. So that they are in a political bind. They have to back away from those previous statements.
Neil Cavuto: You know what the worry is I think for them too at the White House and any incumbent politician for that matter, the longer these prices stay at this level, it’s not just gas that’s affected, it’s going to affect the cost of food and a host of other goods because it’s going to cost more to ship them to you. And that’s when it has that reverberating attack that goes back to Jimmy Carter. That’s when it gets to be bigger than what’s going on at the pump, right?
Paul Chesser: Well, as we know, it’s the master resource. Energy, electricity, our transportation fuels are all the master resource. And Steven Chu is just, he’s confused on supply and demand, so is the President. Their policy is to obstruct the Keystone pipeline, is to limit drilling in the gulf. And those are the activities. It’s not about whether it’s an American source or not. It’s about expanding the supplies so these prices will be brought down. But you know, Secretary Chu, obviously, has to go. It’s not just about the gas price issue. It’s about the whole recovery act scheme. The stimulus stuff is going into the clean energy schemes. We’re seeing all kinds of corruption. I’ve been digging into these loan guarantees with, Solyndra is the big one. But we’ve got Fisker and A123 Systems…
Neil Cavuto: That’s a whole separate show right there, buddy. I didn’t mean to jump there, Paul, but we’re going to a break, sir. But good job, Paul. Paul Chesser in Raleigh.