From The Energy Tribune:

President Obama must really be feeling the heat of high gasoline prices. He is on the defense.

For the past three years, America’s oil industry has endured public denigration, access denials, and permitting delays—all while the President touts the virtues of energy sources not equipped to power America: wind, solar, and, most recently, algae. As gas prices have been spiking up, President Obama has been speaking out against the evil oil companies and accusing them of obscene profits. Apparently, Americans haven’t been buying into the rhetoric. Polls show increasing numbers of people believe the President’s policies have contributed to the high prices.

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The original press release said: “The President will then travel to oil and gas production fields located on federal lands outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico, an area home to more than seventy active drilling rigs. While in Carlsbad, …”

Something didn’t sound right. The Carlsbad, NM airport cannot accommodate Air Force One. Assumptions were made. He must be flying into Roswell and then being helicoptered to Carlsbad, and driven to a well site. “We’ll have folks line the streets along the exit of the Carlsbad airport with signs…”

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President Obama’s total visit time was scheduled to be 2 hours and 15 minutes—with no public interaction. Off in the distance, he might have seen the crowd gathered at the rally—even if only in the news reports.

He was greeted at the Roswell International Air Center by Governor Susana Martinez and Roswell’s Mayor Del Jurney. The mayor of nearby Artesia declined to meet the President. Mayor Jurney says that he spoke to the President about the sand dune lizard: “When you have an opportunity to have boots on ground and to meet the people that it affects, I think the decision making process changes a bit and I am hoping that he’ll continue to consider the ill effects of things like the sand dune lizard and other EPA issues that harm oil and gas production.”