I think you are confusing Bush with Kerry in 2004. It was Kerry who said that Bush had those connections and should use them. Please provide the source for your assertion that Bush said this in 2000.
Limbaugh said that Clinton with the stroke of a pen could remove the federal taxes on gas as well as drop the additive expectations with both actions lowering cost.
Again, I don't know where you are getting this quote from. Congress levies taxes, so the President alone cannot abolish the federal tax on gasoline.
Was that call made to his friends and why hasn't the stoke of a pen happened?
I don't know, but the Saudis have increased production, which does increase supply. Demand has also been increasing driven primarily by China and India. The idea that any President can lower the price of a global commodity like oil is nonsense.
We import 60% of our supply and the amount of imported oil will continue to increase unless we find an alternative solution. It has to be a multipronged approach: Conservation, finding new domestic oil deposts, alternative energy (including nuclear), and decreased regulation. It will be a long term approach. In the meantime, high oil prices will be a fact of life.
“I think the president ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say, ‘We expect you to open your spigots.’ … The president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.” [Financial Times, 2/2/00]
For those conservatives who still believe that high gasoline prices are just "free market capitalism at work" then check this out.: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192263,00.html
This is quoting a CONSERVATIVE (Bill O'Reilly), not some capitalist-hating lefty. Some conservatives (e.g. Rush Limbaugh, Brit Hume choose not to see the truth behind high gasoline prices). There are none so blind as those who will not see. Here is what CONSERVATIVE O'Reilly has to say:
"You are being gouged by the American oil companies. Gas supplies, gas supplies are at an eight-year high. Gas prices have doubled since 2004. Even if you don't know anything about economics, this one's pretty obvious. "Talking Points" has been saying for more than a year, U.S. oil companies are exploiting uncertainty in the world by raising prices they don't have to raise. The companies are making record profits while American workers are getting hurt. Every time the commodities speculators bid up a barrel of oil, the price of a barrel of oil, every time they bid it up, you pay more at the pump. It has nothing to do with supply and demand. It's all about exploiting fears about Iran, terrorism, what might happen down the road. President Bush knows what's going on, but doesn't like to interfere with big business."