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Washington: Attributing rising oil prices to growing demand in countries like
China, India and Brazil, President Obama has accused his
Republican rivals of using the pain at the pump to score political
points.
"It's the easiest thing in the world to make phony election-year
promises about lower gas prices," the president told students at
the University of Miami Thursday.
"What's harder is to make a serious, sustained commitment to
tackle a problem that may not be solved in one year or one term or
even one decade."
Admitting that rising gas prices are hurting Americans' wallets,
the president argued that his administration is not to blame for
the high cost of oil and instead attributed the problem to growing
demand in China, India and Brazil.
"Over the long term, the biggest reason oil prices will probably
keep going up is growing demand in countries like China and India
and Brazil," Obama said.
"Nearly 10 million cars were added in China in 2010 alone -- 10
million cars in one year in one country. Think about how much oil
that requires.
"And as folks in China and India and Brazil, they aspire to buy a
car just like Americans do, those numbers are only going to get
bigger," he said.
"So what does this mean for us? It means that anybody who tells
you that we can drill our way out of this problem doesn't know
what they're talking about, or just isn't telling you the truth,"
Obama said.
While Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates have
blasted Obama's energy policy in recent days, the president said
they are trying to exploit the spike in gas prices for political
purposes.
Obama urged Americans not to be fooled by the Republican call for
increased drilling, saying it's simply "a bumper sticker." "It's
not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. It's a strategy to
get politicians through an election," he said.
Instead, the president touted his wide-ranging strategy, which
includes oil, gas, wind, solar and nuclear power, as the "only
real solution" to solve the nation's energy challenges.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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