Bush In 2000: Bush Blamed Clinton Administration For High Gas Prices; Promised “Immediate Relief” By Using His “Capital” With Saudis And Kuwaitis. “Campaigning for president in a state particularly hard-hit by high gasoline prices, Texas Gov. George W. Bush on Tuesday blamed the nation’s predicament on the Clinton administration, which he said is operating without an energy policy. “This is an administration that is hoping the issue goes away,’ Bush said. … ‘The vice president seems to forget who’s been in office for seven years,’ Bush said. ‘This is an administration that has been in charge, and the price of gasoline has risen steadily since they’ve been in office.’ Asked what he would do as president to address the price at the pump, Bush said he would confer with oil-producing allies and ask them to pump more crude. ‘I would use the capital my administration will earn with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, to convince them to open up the spigot,’ Bush said. ‘That’s where we will get immediate relief.'” [Houston Chronicle, 6/28/00]
Or, if conferring didn’t work, there was this:
In December 1999, in the first Republican primary debate, Mr. Bush said President Clinton “must jawbone OPEC members to lower prices.”
So how well has jawboning worked?
Average price for a barrel of oil in 2000 (inflation adjusted): $33.15
Intra-day price yesterday: $100
Of course your view on oil price is shaped by your perspective. Here Matthew Simmons and Jan Stuart discuss the price of oil and offer their short-term outlook: