Hillary Clinton is back to “listening” and taking questions from voters. In her latest North Carolina ad, she gets asked by “Tamie of Cherryville” about high gas prices. Her answer is a lovely non sequitur: Hillary goes on about the importance of renewable energy. Great answer–to some unasked global warming question. But nothing she said, of course, will affect Tamie’s plight now or anytime in the near future.

Hillary might have offered to reduce federal gas taxes. That would help right away. She might have said, as John McCain did, that she would stop adding to the National Petroleum Reserve. She might have explained the perils of a low dollar which make oil and all other commodities expensive. Or she could have gone the Al Gore route and said it is good that gas prices are high because that’s what must happen in a market economy to encourage development and use of alternative, non-carbon based fuels. She could have even encouraged Tamie to use public transportation or carpool with her friends.

But no. Hillary is going to spend $150B on renewable energy, so that in ten years Tamie might be able to get a solar-powered car. I actually think there may be good reasons for that, but it isn’t going to help Tamie anytime soon.

That is the peril of pretending to answer voters’ questions: sometimes they really do want an answer.