While we watch from afar the turmoil rolling across the Mideast, first toppling the government in Tunisia and now playing out in the streets of Cairo, the effects on Americans are more immediate than the distance between here and Egypt would suggest. A quick trip to the local gas station underlines the strategic importance of the Middle East to the well being of the American economy. And with that economy mired in recession, a surge in gasoline prices is the wrong prescription for an already weak patient. The effect in states like California, where prices are moving toward four dollars...