Desperately Seeking Straw Men: Obama Task Force to Investigate High Gas Prices

He really needn't waste any of our money "investigating" why gas prices have doubled on his watch.

All he needs to do is this:

But he wants to pretend he's doing something, so here we go.

President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the Justice Department is assembling a team to "root out any cases of fraud or manipulation" in oil markets that might be contributing to $4 a gallon-plus gasoline prices.

"We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain," Obama said at a town-hall style meeting at a renewable energy plant in Reno.

He's the one taking advantage ... of people's stupidity. If only most Americans knew we were sitting on top of the world's largest oil reserve and he steadfastly refuses to allow us to drill for it there'd be riots in the streets. But the Make Believe Media won't ever mention this.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.84 on Thursday, about 30 cents higher than a month ago and almost a dollar higher than a year ago.

Obama, decrying such levels as yet another hardship "at a time when things were already pretty tough," said Attorney General Eric Holder was forming the Financial Fraud Enforcement Working Group.

It will focus some of its investigation on "the role of traders and speculators," Obama said. The group will include several Cabinet department officials, federal regulators and the National Association of Attorneys General.

In a statement in Washington, Holder promised to "be vigilant in monitoring the oil and gas markets for any wrongdoing so that consumers can be confident they are not paying higher prices as a result of illegal activity. If illegal conduct is responsible for increasing gas prices, state and federal authorities should take swift action."

However, in a Justice Department memo accompanying his statement, Holder suggested no evidence had turned up yet of unlawful price manipulation.

There's no evidence, therefore we must investigate!

Given that no evidence has yet surfaced of actual fraud or price manipulation in oil markets, Obama's remarks appeared, at least in part, as more of an attempt to assuage public anger over rising gas prices.

In other words, he's looking to blame anyone else and accept zero responsibility. It's The Obama Way.

Could you imagine the merciless derision and ridicule Bush would have faced had he pulled a cheesy stunt like this? We'd never have heard the end of it.

Then again, Bush was a man.

Americans, meanwhile, are already canceling summer vacations.

"I can't go anywhere because I can't afford it," said Greg Sensing, who works in admissions for the University of Maryland. "It's kind of nice to take a road trip, to get in the car, you see the country, and now why bother doing it?"

The gas jitters have much broader implications than how many people show up to take pictures of Bryce Canyon, Mount Rainier or the Everglades. Gas prices are closely tied to the health of the overall economy.

A gallon of gas costs an average of $3.84 in the United States, almost a full dollar more than a year ago. The average is above $4 in six states: $4.52 in Hawaii, $4.21 in California, $4.18 in Alaska, $4.11 in Connecticut, $4.08 in Illinois and $4.05 in New York.

Those are all states that voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008. If they're dumb enough in 2012 they deserve no mercy.