Reply #82: It's ... get this ... BOTH! [View All]

Bush, being an oil man with close ties to the Saudis, when attacking Clinton for his inability to control oil prices, makes mention of his special position as both an oil man and as (at this point only potentially) the President of the US. The point of what he said was that he COULD make oil prices go up or down with a phone call because of his special relationship with the supply side of the equation.

When he became President he still retained that ability, largely through his personal contacts and our foreign aid and our military presence. However, he chose not to exercise that ability because it was profitable to him and the folks who elected him to office for him not to.

You follow?

It's kind of like when Bush campaigned on a "humble" foreign policy and promised "no nation building"; or when his dad said "no new taxes".

Ie - it was campaign trail talk he had no intention of living up to. That doesn't mean he didn't have the power to live up to it if he'd chosen to.