Column: Gas Prices Aren't Figment Of Our Imagination

(UWIRE.com)  This story was written by Neal Hebert, The Daily Reveille

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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain's top financial advisor --former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas -- let the cat out of the bag this past Wednesday, and I'm still waiting for Louisiana Republicans to step up and denounce McCain's economic policies as bad for Louisiana.

With gas prices rising day after day and paychecks not going as far as they used to, Americans have been hit both at the pump and in the wallet. Louisiana is no exception -- and for far too many Louisianans, rebuilding costs are being offset by the price of refueling their cars.

But these troubling facts have not affected the Republican platform this year.

Just ask Sen. Gramm.

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," Gramm told the Washington Times. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline. Misery sells newspapers. Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day."

The reaction was immediate.

Democrats were quick to haul out the ridicule wagon, and even John McCain was forced to distance himself from his campaign's top financial policy maker despite releasing statements earlier in the day defending Gramm.

By the end of the day, the consensus and an uneasy truce seemed to be reached between the Republican party and the press; only John McCain spoke for John McCain, and he shouldn't be held responsible for the descriptions of his policies formulated by his designated surrogates and policy gurus.

Unfortunately for the McCain campaign, McCain himself has repeatedly characterized America's economic policies in much the same way -- and suggested his own solutions to it are the antidepressants Sen. Gramm implied Americans need.

Earlier this year at a West Palm Beach, Fla., town hall meeting held Jan. 24 -- and available on YouTube -- McCain asserted America's economic downturn is all in our heads.

"A lot of this is psychological," McCain said. "A lot of it's psychological."

McCain asserted the same sentiment this past April on Fox News with Neil Cavuto. Cavuto asked McCain about the benefits of McCain's plan to rescind an 18-cent gas tax during the summer.

"I'm very concerned about it, Neil. And obviously the way it's been going up is just terrible," McCain said. "But I think psychologically - and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological - the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home. This might give them a little psychological boost. Let's have some straight talk, it's not a huge amount of money."

And a little less than one month ago at a June 23 rally in Fresno, Calif., McCain said much the same thing when linking America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to gas prices.

"I am confident that, uh, the, the conflicts that we are in in both Iraq and Afghanistan have also a bearing on that. Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial," McCain said.

So, far from committing a media gaffe, Gramm seemed to be articulating a talking point long established by McCain.

And this should trouble us both as Louisianians and University students.

We live in a rural state. Many of us reside in an industrial city that just happens to have a major university smack in the middle of it, and -- as many of our international students have discovered -- having a car in Baton Rouge isn't a luxury.

It's a necessity.

Unlike many other big cities in America, Baton Rouge's public transportaton is simply incapable of making busing convenient. Its streets are too clogged with traffic to make biking safe or particularly efficient - and the climate doesn't help either.

We are stuck with the economy we have right now, just as when we graduate, we will be living in the economy the next president, Congress and Senate leave us.

Rising gas prices hit a lot harder when there is no workable alternative to driving.

So, Louisiana politicians need to answer some tough questions this coming election - especially those running on the Republican economic platform articulated by McCain.

Does prospective vice presidential candidate and current Gov. Bobby Jindal agree with Sen. McCain that a large part of the economic problems in America are psychological? Are rising gas prices a figment of our imaginations?

Would Jindal suggest Louisianians see a therapist rather than ask our representatives in Washington to address national economic malfeasance? Or would an exorcist suffice?

Does newly minted Republican senatorial candidate John Kennedy endorse McCain's analysis of our state's economic woes, or has his defection from the Democratic Party been so sudden that he's forgotten whom he's supposed to endorse?

These questions are not attempts to play off manufactured media controversies -- these are the things that we as citizens need to know.

And we cannot afford to vote for politicians who believe wishing bad gas prices away and hoping for a better economy are workable solutions to the economy in which we live, work and study each day.