During the Bush 43 administration The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto had a regular feature called “Homeless Rediscovery Watch” which featured a quote by Mark Helprin to the effect that if Bush was elected president that the media would suddenly re-discover the homeless population and use it as a club to bash GOP policies.

It’s beginning to appear that there’s a noticeably different trend when it comes to reporting on gasoline prices and the actions President Obama has taken to exacerbate the situation—call this the Gasoline Price Obliviousness Watch.

Notice an emerging trend here? Have you missed your local TV station or newspaper’s coverage of this disturbing trend? Is it being featured on the Big 3 network evening newscasts? (No, seriously, I stopped watching them a long time ago. Are they covering this?)

As prices continue to rise, will the news media start connecting Obama’s policies to the rise?

According to Keith Hennessey, the budget Obama unveiled yesterday includes a hidden 25-cent per gallon hike in the gasoline tax. This idea was floated last year by RINO Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio and Democrat Tom Carper of Delaware. President Obama’s own deficit commission suggested raising the gasoline tax 15 cents per gallon.

Oil & Gas Journal reported that Obama’s proposed budget socks it to oil and gas producers, having the effect of increasing the cost of domestic oil production while making imported oil cheaper. Obama also aims to eliminate some standard business deductions only for the oil and gas industry.

What will this likely translate into? Higher prices and even more dependence on foreign sources of oil.

 USA Today reported that Seahawk Drilling had entered bankruptcy and will sell its assets to a competitor. Why?

Seahawk, which announced the deal with Hercules Offshore Inc. Friday, has been hurt by a slowdown in Gulf of Mexico drilling after the BP oil spill last April. The government halted drilling in deep waters and imposed tough new rules that have curtained all energy exploration in U.S. waters.

Yes, that would be the same purposeful slowdown that earned the Obama administration a contempt ruling earlier this month.

The media will largely ignore and/or excuse the Obama administration’s policy actions that act to increase the cost of gasoline in the coming years under the guise of environmental necessity—damn the American people and their pocketbooks.