Bush Once Again Fails To ‘Jawbone’ King Abdullah At His Horse Ranch Into Increasing Oil Production»

During the 2000 presidential campaign, President Bush criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said that as president, he would take a much tougher approach — “jawbone OPEC members to lower the price“:

What I think the president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots…And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.

Last January, Bush went to Saudi Arabia to “jawbone” King Abdullah into increasing oil production in an effort to bring rising gas prices down in the United States. But perhaps because the jawboning session occurred in the comforts of the King’s horse ranch, the King declined Bush’s kind request.