Roughly one month ago, the New York Times noted that John Kerry was very upset at the notion of Bush striking a deal with the Saudis to lower gasoline prices in the U.S.

Today, Senator John Kerry quickly seized on Mr. Woodward's assertion on Sunday that the Saudi ambassador to the United States had agreed that his country would make sure that oil prices did not get too out of hand and would lower them to boost the American economy prior to the election -- a decision that would presumably help Mr. Bush politically.

"That is outrageous and unacceptable to the American people," Mr. Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, declared during a campaign stop in Florida...

Now that the average gas prices have reached more than $2 a gallon, Kerry is blaming Bush for not striking a deal with the Saudis to lower gas prices in the U.S.

"Where is the president?" Mr. Kerry asked in Portland, Ore., where he made a campaign stop at a training center. "We need a president who is fighting for the American worker, the American family, at the fuel pumps, to lower the price of gas in the United States."

This is the classic damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. If Bush gets OPEC to lower the price of oil, he's must be doing it for political reasons. If he doesn't get OPEC to lower the price of oil, he must be imcompetent.