Seems to me had Bush not formally asked the Saudis to up production, lots of people would be clamoring for him to do just that.
‘Man, if I were President, I’d make the Saudis produce more oil! It’s the least they could do!’
There’s no way anyone could demand them to do so, so what do you suggest now? Is it your role to simply declare him a fool? Do you have any alternatives to suggest? Should he make them produce more? He could no more do that than make Congress drill in ANWR.
So what say you? What should he have done or, better yet, what should he do now?
I already made my point above how he should have been using his bully pulpit for the last 7 years to make the case to the American public about energy independence. This problem didn't occur overnight.
Reagan, a real Republican, often made his case on prime time TV to the populace about the need for military build-up and the evil of Soviet Communism, and the Country rallied around his talks. I remember people actually stopping to listen to his message. Bush hasn't really tried, although I do recognize he has been pre-occupied with the WOT, but that reasoning only goes so far since he has a Cabinet Secretarys that are not involved with the war. The Secretary of Energy should have been on top of this years ago. The buck stops at the top. That would be Bush.
As for now, Bush is a lame duck, and apparently King Abdullah knows it.