“Blame Bush” Becoming Moot
Throughout the 2008 campaign, California Democrats ran its printers seven days a week, issuing an endless stream of press releases touting their voter registration gains. With a certain smugness, Democrats pointed to the impact of a lengthy, involved primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and each campaign’s reach to a large network of youth, minorities and first-time voters. This fueled an intriguing narrative for political commentators and the media that a new political realignment was taking shape – even prior to the election results in November
In the election aftermath, stories were written, proclamations were made, and rumors of the death of the Republican Party, here in California and across the nation, were greatly exaggerated. The wake of so-called “Age of Obama” – voters registration gains, an unseen fundraising behemoth, and the accompanying electoral tsunami – foretold a serious decline for the GOP that began with the loss of congress in 2006.
The Increasing Price at the Pump
After a short break from record high gas prices for Californians, prices are back on the rise and will only get higher, courtesy of the Democrat Party and the Organizations of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The twelve countries that make up OPEC ( Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela) voted in November, to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. That meeting was followed up by a December 17, 2008 meeting where OPEC decided to cut production by another 2.2 million barrels, with the stated goal of driving up prices and profits.
Similarly, as the legislative leadership of the Democratic Party in California convened in December 2008, they also voted to make the price of gasoline a bit more expensive. As part of their Democratic budget proposal the Democrats included a 39 cent tax on top of the regular price of a gallon of gas. Luckily, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the proposed gas tax.