Compare what came out of Washington as gasoline prices shot up 50 cents per gallon or more over the past few weeks with what happened in the rest of the world.
Congress growled bravely about an excess profit tax on oil. That died quickly under oil lobbyists' pressures. Then came a feel-good $100 rebate to all Americans to cover fuel cost increases. Taxpayers laughed that $10 billion hoax to death.
President Bush suggested meekly that oil companies reinvest in production and announced he might divert oil headed for the national strategic reserve to consumers—a meaningless solution. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman declared a "crisis," but offered no solution.
More oil news out of the Iraqi morass didn't help the president. U.S. contractors being paid hundreds of millions of dollars still can't get the Iraqi petroleum industry up and running to provide sufficient domestic supplies for Iraqis, much less create exports to the United States to help pay for the war.
In the meantime, mainland China, whose demands for oil in an expanding consumer society are voracious, was out and about quickly signing deals for oil with Saudi Arabia and other major oil countries. China even inked a deal with Fidel Castro to invest in offshore drilling with Cuba in the Florida Straits.
The one vital alternative in this crisis—forcing better fuel mileage in automobiles—still is being stubbornly ignored by the administration. However, this is because of relaxed regulatory deals struck by the Bush White House with the automotive and energy industries, placing horrific costs on American consumers in the name of White House politics.
All the political platitudes coming out of Washington won't change this: Fuel prices will remain high as irreversible shortages brought on by other countries' growing demands, refining delays and the unquenchable U.S. thirst continue.
In a humiliating slap at the leadership vacuum in Washington, D.C., 10 states plan to sue the Environmental Protection Agency to require more mileage efficiency in cars and trucks.
Detroit automakers complain they don't have the technology to improve mileage even though, oddly, higher mileage is a hallmark of Japanese vehicles.
The one concession President Bush has made to more automotive efficiency is his repeated proposal for developing hydrogen-fueled vehicles—a proposal made as far back as the 1970s by President Jimmy Carter after the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74.
The worst may be yet to come. The ultimate painful impact of the president's failures to lead and act will come when oil shortages show up where it may count most for many Americans—in everyday petroleum-based products such as lipstick, textiles, toothpaste, diapers and house paint.
