No you have it backwards. What we need is the Hysteric Left to drop their ridiculous notion that there is some sort of silver bullet that we can find that will suddenly just slay the Oil monster. The need to accept the reality that it is an Evolutionary process, not Revolutionary. We are going to have to tap our existing oil supplies. ANWAR and the Gulf Coast before we can completely convert to the next energy source. The Hysteric Left's notion that they can get "alternative energy" if they fight tooth and nail against any short term development of exist supplies is just stupid. EVEN if the Hysteric Left could, which they cannot, wave a magic wand and create a magic alternative energy today, it will take DECADES to replace all the existing infrastructure with the infrastructure for the new energy source. Look at History. No on in Washington DC woke up one day and said "Right. Today you all switch over to oil" It was a evolution, under market forces, over time. The same process will have to take place to do away with Oil. Unfortunately the Hysteric Left thinks they can just with the 30-40 between here and a viable replace energy source for Oil by sabotaging any efforts at incremental change. That is why John Kerry ran around last year screaming about "a crash program in alternative fuels" it makes the Hysteric Left feel all warm and fuzzy with out actually DOING anything to solve the problem.
"Will high prices bring more oil online? You bet. Will that new oil bring prices down? Only somewhat, and only temporarily, because the costs of extraction will remain high."
Yes, part of the problem is considering oil *as* a monster.