Regarding the Obama/Hilary commented. I am not sure what you are basing this on.

Oil prices for a large portion are subject to the simple supply and demand rules. We all know that supply is limited and will continue to be more limited in the future. On the other hand demand has been rising with China and India ($2000 car) gearing up to take their share of oil production.

The last 10 years we have had a huge trade deficit with China and they are now using those dollars to buy oil on the free market.

I am not sure what Obama or Hilary can do about this short term as this is a problem that has been ignored for such a long time by our current administration. The only thing we can do now is to play catch up and try to fix the mess we are find ourselves in now.

$8/gallon gas price is unavoidable and the only thing we can do is to prepare ourselves for it by buying hybrid and electrical cars.