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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Only a president can ask people to make the sort of sacrifice that
> will have national impact. If, say, Bush had called for energy
> independence after 9/11 and included a little sacrifice on the way to
> achieving it, he might have had some response. All he asked was that
> people keep spending. Duh!

In 1974 gas lines were very long. I don't recall the price. An image 
was created that stays with me; the image is of President George H.W. 
Bush doing figure eights in his high-powered speedboat that sucked 
gas at a very high rate. It was a purposeful symbolic gesture to show 
the rest of the world that, by god, we Americans had enough to waste 
and we could do as we damned well please.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that oil people have a different 
view of correct energy policy than the common man.