When No One Is Looking, Bush Reverts To The "Big Oil Is King" Mantra

by Steve

A day after the rosy "technology can save us" assessment on energy independence, Bush says that oil prices are set by the marketplace, that's the way it should be, and that consumers shouldn't look for any price breaks anytime soon. And a day after the rhetoric about getting away from Middle Eastern oil, Bush now says that he hopes "in his lifetime" that we can no longer need Persian Gulf oil. Nevermind the role that his administration's policies have played in stacking that marketplace against consumers.

First, nothing in his comments today when no one was looking would give the Saudis or Big Oil any pause, and in fact, the comments about the virtues of the marketplace pretty much signal that no one should expect any possible federal DOJ involvement in investigating market collusion or price-fixing amongst Big Oil like this administration has already allowed Enron to do. Second, it helps to see this a day after the lights are off to get a sense of how fervent he really is to send a message to his friends in the Royal family that things may be changing. From these comments today, we can conclude that there will be many more walks hand-in-hand with the Saudis in the next three years, and that despite the rhetoric, Big Oil and "the family" have nothing to worry about.