If you roll back the clock to August 2008 and liberals we using $4.00 /gal. gas prices as short hand for really expensive:

House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, noted that the House package evolved from hours of talks among all stakeholders, but now he feels as if he’s starting from scratch in talks with Senate leadership — including listening to a demand for a huge unspecified tax cut.

“What they are ignoring is the cost of doing nothing,” Dillon said, adding that Michiganders have become more attentive to the state energy debate as gasoline costs have risen. “If we don’t plan, we’ll be at $4-a-gallon electricity.“

Of course, Democrat Dillon was pushing for legislation mandating the fallacy of green energy, but you get the point.

Fast forward to today, and we get a smug column from Tom Walsh @ the very liberal Detroit Free Press telling us that, hey, don’t panic when gas is above $4.00 / gal.

But me? Personally, I’m opting for the no-panic button. Three reasons:

1.) Oil prices are peaking now and will head back down soon. Happens every time after a big price spike.

2.) I bought a hybrid.

3.) Don’t obsess over stuff you can’t control or predict.

Mark Perry, economics professor at University of Michigan-Flint and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says the U.S. Energy Department projects that gas prices will level off and fall to $3.60 by the end of 2012.

According to Tom Walsh, don’t sweat it guys, there is nothing us little people can do about gas prices so suck it up. Besides, according to Obama we will be Brazil’s best customer when it comes the purchase of oil.

Mr. Walsh continues his column pointing out he is greener than thou because he purchased a hybrid. And due to his superior vehicle purchase he is more insulated to fuel price swings than the average person:

Of course, we did pay a premium for the hybrid version — but even if the total operating cost comparison was a wash, I’d rather pay more money to Ford and its U.S. workers than pay it to Saudi sheikhs for extra fuel.

Ohhh the ‘dangerous’ foreign oil argument. I’m pretty sure there are few oil rich Saudi sheikhs running around Canada and Mexico. You know, where we in the United States get the majority of our foreign oil.

When you think about it, there are major oil drilling going on just across our northern and southern borders and we are putting the breaks on developing our own real energy resources.