"Clearly, we need to have the very best advice and counsel on what actions can be taken to help lower the cost of gasoline"
About this Quote
The word "Clearly" does a lot of political work here: it preemptively declares consensus, then uses that manufactured certainty to justify a familiar move - outsourcing accountability. Jeff Bingaman isn’t promising to lower gas prices; he’s promising to consult the people who will tell him what lowering gas prices might look like. It’s a sentence engineered to signal concern without being pinned to a policy that can be attacked, costed out, or measured.
The key phrase is "very best advice and counsel". That’s Washington-speak for a safe coalition: experts, industry stakeholders, maybe economists, maybe energy producers - the kind of lineup that sounds rigorous while quietly narrowing the range of acceptable solutions. Advice is also a convenient substitute for action in a domain where outcomes are shaped by global crude markets, refining capacity, geopolitics, speculation, and seasonal demand. Politicians know voters experience gasoline as a daily tax, but they also know their leverage over the price on the pump is limited and indirect. So the rhetoric pivots to process.
The subtext: we must be seen responding to public anger, but we cannot credibly promise control. "What actions can be taken" is carefully conditional, implying there may be only a few, and not all will be popular. It also leaves room for symbolic gestures - hearings, task forces, releases from strategic reserves - that read as doing something while buying time. In that sense, the quote is less a policy statement than a political pressure valve, calibrated for a moment when gasoline prices are high and impatience is higher.
The key phrase is "very best advice and counsel". That’s Washington-speak for a safe coalition: experts, industry stakeholders, maybe economists, maybe energy producers - the kind of lineup that sounds rigorous while quietly narrowing the range of acceptable solutions. Advice is also a convenient substitute for action in a domain where outcomes are shaped by global crude markets, refining capacity, geopolitics, speculation, and seasonal demand. Politicians know voters experience gasoline as a daily tax, but they also know their leverage over the price on the pump is limited and indirect. So the rhetoric pivots to process.
The subtext: we must be seen responding to public anger, but we cannot credibly promise control. "What actions can be taken" is carefully conditional, implying there may be only a few, and not all will be popular. It also leaves room for symbolic gestures - hearings, task forces, releases from strategic reserves - that read as doing something while buying time. In that sense, the quote is less a policy statement than a political pressure valve, calibrated for a moment when gasoline prices are high and impatience is higher.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
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