Another example of Democrats' desire for high gas prices

Between the opening of Dave Reinhard's column today (emphasis mine):

A few weeks back I spoke with U.S. Rep. John Peterson, and the Pennsylvania Republican told me about one House Democrat he almost persuaded to vote to expand oil and natural gas drilling in the nation's outer continental shelf.

This Democrat would vote for the bill, he told Peterson, if Peterson could assure him that lifting the decades-old ban on offshore drilling would not lower U.S. gasoline prices.

...and an interview that Barack Obama did on CNBC, in which interviewer John Harwood asked if high oil prices could "help us?" (presumably, "us" meant the country, not the Democrats):

I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing. But if we take some steps right now to help people make the adjustment, first of all by putting more money in their pockets, but also by encouraging the market to adapt to these new circumstances more quickly, particularly US auto makers, then I think ultimately, we can come out of this stronger and have a more efficient energy policy than we do right now.

...I fail to see how the Democratic Party can claim to be the party of the "little guy."

Obama seems to be saying that he wants high gas prices, just a little slower, because it will make other energy sources more cost effective. But the key is that he wants high gas prices. He wants to make Americans continue to pay a huge amount of their monthly budget at the pumps in order to pursue alternative energy sources that won't make a bit of difference for many years. (Yes, new drilling won't make a difference for a while either, but as I argued, the only reason not to pursue both domestic supplies and new technologies is because you're trying to play politics with my pocketbook.)

Oh, and I'm not sure how Obama plans to put "more money" in our pockets, unless he wants another economic stimulus mailing or plans to cut taxes. Oh wait, George Bush already did that (which, despite what you hear, reduced taxes on Americans in every tax bracket), and Obama has indicated he won't renew the tax cuts.

The Democrats want high gas prices (and higher taxes) because it furthers their agenda against the oil companies, and if tens of millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, that's the way the cookie crumbles.