No, I’m not making this up. Truth is always stranger than fiction:
Voters may feel the pinch at the pump, but Energy Secretary Steven Chu gave himself an “A” Tuesday for his handling of gasoline prices.
Chu told Republican Rep. Darrell Issa at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing that he’s done everything in his power to lower gas prices.
Energy Information Administration records show that since Obama took office in 2009, the price of a gallon of gasoline has skyrocketed from $1.85 to $3.87, but Chu insists there is little the administration can do to help.
Issa asked Chu “In controlling the cost of gasoline at the pump, do you give yourself an A-?”
Chu responded that “the tools we have at our disposal are limited, but I would say I would give myself a little higher in that since I became a Secretary of Energy, I’ve been doing everything I can to get long term solutions.”
As a bespectacled academic in charge of “transformative science and technology solutions,” Chu indeed probably feels that he has done an excellent job. Look at all the money the government is now investing in green energy. I’m sure he’s also secretly pleased with the fact that during the Obama Administration’s first term, gasoline prices have doubled. If they double again during a second Obama term (heaven help us), then Chu’s personal goal of “figur[ing] out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe” will have been achieved.
But the rest of us who will be paying, and paying dearly, for our mandatory “progress’ would probably give the DOE and its Secretary a much less optimistic evaluation.
