MIAMI (MCT) — President Barack Obama stopped in Miami on Thursday to refuel his re-election campaign with big-donor cash and to bash Republicans for politically “licking their chops” over the high price of fuel at the pump.
“Some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. You’re shocked, I know,” Obama said to a crowd of hundreds of University of Miami students.
“Only in politics do people greet bad news so enthusiastically. You pay more, and they’re licking their chops?” Obama asked rhetorically. “And you can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas.”
All the Republican candidates have criticized Obama for not encouraging enough domestic fuel production and for rejecting what’s known as the Keystone Pipeline, which would deliver oil from Canada to Texas.
The president also boasted that “under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years.” Unmentioned by Obama: nearly all of that drilling was approved under his predecessor, President George W. Bush.
Obama is hitting up three high-dollar fundraisers: one at the swank Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, another at the home of a top Democratic fundraiser and a third at the Orlando home of basketball star Vince Carter.
