For Obama, High Oil Prices Have a Green Lining

When gasoline prices go up, Presidential approval ratings historically go down. Still, there's a silver lining in higher oil prices for Pres Barack Obama, who has made clean energy one of his paramount causes. Rising fuel costs could go a long way toward advancing Obama's "Win the Future" vision of an economy remade by green technologies, including electric vehicles, advanced batteries, wind and solar power, and high-speed trains. Truth be told, higher prices are what it takes to change the energy consumption habits of large numbers of Americans. Higher energy prices are precisely what Obama's proposed cap-and-trade legislation to control carbon emissions would have achieved. Had it passed Congress, the system of tradable permits would have raised the cost of carbon-generating fossil fuels, making clean energy sources more competitive.