I don’t recall if it was the threat of opening up the reserves, or drilling to increase domestic oil production that G.W. Bush threatened once upon a time, and of a sudden the price of gasoline at the pump dropped like a rock.
Do you all recall that incident?
I would think that were Palin, Gingrich, or some other conservative with an attitude in the drivers seat again, and with a compatible Congress that a whole lot could happen simply with nuance, or innuendo, much less cooperative congressional legislation.
It easy to influence the market in the very short term - it is another to make fundamental changes to the market that produce permanently lower prices. The President doesn’t have that power.
And why would one think that the oil companies want permanently lower prices?