It does seem, however, that in this bitter, partisan environment there are those who view this as a big, flaming bag of poo on the doorstep of the GOP. From The Corner:
I cannot emphasize too much how idiotic this is. At a time when the poor of the country and the world are feeling the twin crunches of credit being withdrawn and food and energy prices rising, jacking up energy prices farther will just add insult to injury. The fat cat traders of Wall Street will be licking their lips, of course. Meanwhile, House and Senate Republicans and (yes, some) Democrats who have stood up for the American consumer against this insanity will be left hanging.
They weren't the only ones calling it a surrender, either. John Cole noted that there was at least the appearance of some convenient positioning going on.
Woah- I thought the economy was fine over there at the corner and the housing crisis was much ado about nothing that the Dem-o- RATS and the LIE-berals were just making up in an election year.
There are plenty of reasons to be cautious, economic concerns not being the least of them, but it does seem rather odd to start talking about the dangers we face in this shaky economy after you've spent so much time telling everyone that the economy is strong and getting stronger and will be just fine. (At least until November.)
Let's give the White House some time to flesh this out and see where it goes, eh?
