Florence Nightingale for president?

The more I hear people complain about Barack Obama, the more I like the guy.

Now to be clear, I didn’t vote for him the first time. I don’t think he’s done a particularly good job. And I probably won’t vote for him this time around. But I find myself defending him on a regular basis because of the unfounded claims made by people I can only refer to as loons.

For example, I’ve read repeatedly that the price of gasoline has doubled since Obama became president, noting that he’s the reason that prices have jumped the way they have.

GasBuddy.com tells us that in mid- to late-2008, the price of gasoline dropped significantly in Buffalo from $4.26 a gallon to $1.81. It has been on a steady incline ever since. Worth noting here, of course, is that it was $4.26 in the summer of 2008. But to hear the loons tell it, it was $1.81 until Obama took office.

They’ll tell you, of course, that the spike in gas prices from 2005 to 2008 had nothing to do with former President George W. Bush, but the spike from 2008 until 2012 is the sole fault of President Obama.

The loons seem to believe that their guy couldn’t possibly have been the problem (this goes with the left-wing loons who serve as Obama apologists, too). The fact of the matter is, the price of things go up and our foreign policy doesn’t help matters. It is, of course, the same foreign policy that has guided us over the course of the past dozen administrations or so.

The problem isn’t Obama. And it wasn’t Bush. The problem — as is so often the case — is us. But it’s easier to blame Obama.

I don’t hear the same people who are blaming Obama for gas prices also giving him credit for the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around 8,000 points when Obama was inaugurated. It now stands at about 13,000. That’s quite a bump.

Likewise, unemployment spiked at the end of George W. Bush’s time in office, hitting 7.8 percent in January of 2009. It further jumped to 10 percent in October of that year, nine months into Obama’s first term. Since October of 2009, however, it has (very) slowly but steadily declined to where it stands now at just over 8 percent.

But I hear nary a word about that. All I hear these days is gas prices. And when I do hear about the stock market or unemployment, I’m told it would be better were it not for Obama and his horrible fiscal policies. Oh and he’s a Communist.

I’ve been called a Communist before. I know what a Communist is. Barack Obama is not a Communist. He may truly be inept, but he’s not a Communist.

For the record, I’ve been called a Fascist before, too. I’m not one of those either. I’m just a guy who gets irritated by other people’s B.S.

While I’m very unlikely to cast a vote for Barack Obama come November, I do sympathize for the guy. And if I end up feeling bad enough for him, I might just vote for him.

Dear loons, you’ve overplayed your hand. And the reasonable people of the world are going to sympathize for a guy they probably would never vote for otherwise. Get back to reality so we can find someone who can actually do the job.

The new gold ...

Seems everyone this days is giving gas away as part of a promotional package. Buy a car, get free gas. Buy a boat. Get free gas. Buy a burrito, get gas. Well ... kind of.

Anyway, people aren't interesting in money, jewelery, or even gold. Diamonds aren't a girls best friend any more. Give 'em gas.

Even the Florida lottery has added gasoline to their list of prizes.

A lottery spokesperson said, “Once a week for the next two months, the second-prize winner in the latest lottery promotion, Summer Cash, will win free gasoline for life. And some people think that is a better deal than the game’s first prize, a quarter of a million dollars. ”

Actually, they'll be getting a $100 gas card every other week for the remainder of their life. That's $50 free dollars in gas a week. Or just over 10 gallons. Not that grand of a prize, really. Especially since later this year it will be just under 10 gallons ... and will likely quickly diminish.

Funny thing is, people don't notice that the value of the prize isn't nearly as good as the first place prize ... the quarter million dollars. They just hear free gas and go gaga.

The price of gasoline, of course, makes up a little bit of the price of just about everything; the food we eat, the stuff we buy ... and of course the places we go.

But keep in mind, it's only a portion of the cost of those things.

With the price of gas at $4.20 a gallon, and assuming, 20 miles per gallon, it's 21 cents a mile. Or $101.01 to get from my home in Lockport to my favorite vacation destination, Washington, DC. Round trip makes it $200 (give or take).

Two years ago, it would have only been $100 for gas for the same trip.

Of course, while on vacation, you'd spend a bunch of money on a hotel, tourist attractions, trinkets, etc. Let's say $1,000.

So add the gas in, and you've got a $1,200 vacation. As opposed to what would have been an $1,100 vacation if gas were $2.10.

Are you really going to skip your vacation over $100?

We need to stop treating gas as though it were gold. Otherwise, it might end up at $1,000 an ounce. And then we really couldn't afford to go anywhere.

Aghast over gas?

Contrary to the recent headlines proclaiming the entire country to be up in arms and aghast at the price of fuel, I'm not.

I want to be angry. I've tried. In fact, I've spent the last few days trying to get angry just so I could write about how angry I am.

Maybe it's that I don't drive enough. Maybe it's that I'm in a better financial situation than others. Or maybe it's just my cool demeanor. But I doubt it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy about $4-plus gas. I certainly don't look forward to spending more and more of my hard-earned money on getting from point A to point B. But I'm certainly not angry.

Who, after all, am I supposed to be angry at?

Should I be angry at the Bush administration for not being able to force OPEC and oil companies to set their prices lower?

Should I be angry at Congress for the same? Or for not having billions of barrels of oil stored out back somewhere to help this crunch we're in?

Should I be angry at the oil companies themselves for wanting to make a profit?

The most frequent excuse I hear for why I should be angry is that "big oil" is reaping larger and larger profits each quarter. Of course, their response is that they actually only make pennies on a gallon and the reason for the high profits is that we keep consuming more and more gallons.

So should I be angry at you? Or myself? Or developing nations in Africa and Asia that are using more oil than they used to?

Cause when it really comes down to it, it's supply and demand. The more in demand something is, the more "they" charge us for the supply.

Sure oil company profits are huge ... but their profit margin is not. Many of you could surely care less about profit margin, but look at it this way: You'd surely invest a dollar to make $10. And you'd likely invest $10 to make $100. But would you be so willing to invest $100 to make $10? You're still making the same $10 you were before when you were investing $1 ... but the deal doesn't look as good now. Profit's the same ... but profit margin is less.

You know the old saying, "Don't cry over spilt milk." Well, I guess I have a similar philosophy on gas. I'm not going to cry over milk someone else spilled ... even if I have to clean it up.

Being angry gets you no where. You still have to spend $4.09 - or whatever it is by the time you read this - on gas ... plus you're angry about it.

Now, if we could bottle anger and use it to run cars ... then I'd be trying even harder to be angry ... and baiting you to do the same.

But that's not the case. Cars run on gasoline. (most of 'em). Gasoline comes from the oil companies. And we're not part of the process until we pull up to the pump.

That's not to say we can't do anything about the amount of gasoline we consume. But most of us - apparently - aren't angry enough to do that yet. I can tell by the amount of SUVs and pickup trucks driving around at any given time.

In the end, unless you're getting 36 miles to the gallon - which many cars get now - the only person you should be angry at about the amount you spend on gasoline ... is you.

And I'm not about to be angry at myself. So I just won't be angry.