Nah. He really thought it would work. Now that it hasn't, he will conclude that we don't need to drill more because it's been shown that an increase in supply does not reduce prices.
Economics was wrong!
It's just like his protestation that he tried tax cuts and they didn't work. Just like all liberals, he's unaware that different types of tax cuts have different economic results.
Yeah, that was kind of my thought: maybe releasing the reserves was some kind of Machiavellian move to cast doubt on the law of supply and demand. Now whenever someone suggests more drilling to keep prices low -- like say in a presidential debate or something -- he can whip out the little factoid that dumping 60 million gallons on the market didn't do squat to prices. Seems far fetched, but who knows with this guy?