Seems to me that one of the chief advantages of having a President that comes from a major oil family is that he might have some influence over the price of oil/gasoline.

Seems to me that he could put in a word with the big wigs and say, "Hey, I'm trying to get re-elected here. We gotta keep prices low until December 2004."

But no, GDub is so ineffectual he can't even manage this. Instead, he's letting the oil producers put the screws to the American citizenry.

6iron, George Dubya dare not risk pising off his buddies in Saudi Arabia, he can't take that chance. And if these gas prices aren't a call for alternative energy right now I don't know what is. Too bad the Republican controlled Congress can't pull its head out of it's you know what and come up with an energy policy!! How many years now have they had the chance???

While he's at it maybe he could get the "big wigs" to let the Cubs win the World Series this year.

Perhaps they can use the same wonderful energy policy seen in the Clinton Administration.

For decades this country has been held by the balls by those jerks at OPEC. Republican and Democratic Administrations alike have been totally inept in dealing with OPEC. Now we've got Kerry saying that if elected, he will force OPEC to make changes. Uh huh. This is as asinine as Bush saying, during the 2000 campaign, that since he comes from an oil background, he would have influence on OPEC. Uh huh.

OPEC, led by "America's friend in the War On Terror, Saudi Arabia," has screwed us long enough. Nothing will change until we are able to wean ourselves from dependency on them. Maybe we should start out by removing our presence from Saudi Arabia, leaving them to fend for themselves. Let's see how long it takes for them to come running to us for help--again.

Candidate Bush said that he would always work with OPEC to keep gas prices under control and that if a problem ever happened, he had friends who would help him. I guess that was a lie. Candidate Bush said he would never support nation building. I guess that was a lie. President Bush said that Iraqi oil exports would help finance the rebuilding of the country. Oh, yeah, another lie.