Administration Vulnerable to "Do-Nothing" Charge on high gas prices.

According to this Reuters article, the Bush administration has refused to talk about what its diplomatic activities were toward OPEC and Saudi Arabia for the past three years. Result: this month, OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, closed their spigots, planning a 4% drop in production, which will send gas prices even higher.

Bush campaigned saying he would get "on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say 'we expect you to open your spigots' ". The result of his "quiet diplomacy" is a closing of the spigots, and gouging at the pump. Assuming Bush didn't encourage an OPEC rise in prices, his dipolmacy has been ineffective.

However, perhaps Bush did encourage an OPEC rise in prices. It's possible the administration permitted Saudi Arabia to call for a 4% cut in production, in return for Saudi Arabia remaining quiet during in the war on Terror, and in Iraq. Is Bush buying middle-east support for his war in Iraq with our gas money? If not, then in what way can he call the OPEC increase in gas prices a diplomatic success?