Power of Persuasion
[During the election campaign, June 28, 2000:]
Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.
”I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply,” Mr. Bush, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, told reporters here today. ”Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot.”
[Today:]
Saudi Arabia Friday rebuffed President Bush’s request to immediately pump more oil to lower record prices, saying it does not see enough demand to increase production.
[..]
Bush is spending much of the day in closed-door meetings with King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler.
Friday’s visit was Bush’s second trip to the kingdom this year, coming as oil prices reached a new record high Friday of more than $127 a barrel. When he traveled to Riyadh in January, his request for the Saudis to pump more oil was also rejected.
[..]
“We will raise production when the market justifies it. This is our policy,” al-Naimi said during Bush’s first visit in January. “Our interest is to hopefully keep supply matching demand with minimum volatility in the international oil market,” he added.
You know, I have watched the stories. There is enough oil. There is not enough refineries.
So, oil is plenty. Gasoline and kerozin, is not.