Speaking at the University of Miami on February 23, Obama again revealed his remarkable gift for oratory. He denied any responsibility for the rising gas prices and instead took the credit for dramatically increased domestic oil production. This took real artifice. Even as a candidate Obama promised that his energy policies would reduce fossil fuels and “cost money.” Secretary of Energy David Chu famously explained, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

Gasoline in Europe is consistently above $8 a gallon, so the administration still has a ways to go, but it is making a lot of progress. One need only compare the boom in domestic production on private and state-owned land to the vertiginous drop in oil production from federally-controlled sources.