Let’s hold off on that personality.

June 28, 2000

Bush Would Use Power of Persuasion to Raise Oil Supply
New York Times
By Katharine Q. Seelye

Wayne, Mich. — Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.

“I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply,” Mr. Bush, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, told reporters here today. “Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot.”

September 28, 2004

Crude Oil Prices Surpass $50 Per Barrel
Associated Press
By Brad Foss

Crude oil surpassed $50 a barrel for the first time and analysts said Tuesday that prices could keep rising because of a sharp rise in global demand, tight supplies and threats to output in petroleum-producing nations such as Iraq and Nigeria.

[…]

The 75 percent increase in the price of oil in the past year also promises to heat up as a political issue, with just over a month until the presidential election.

Oil was, for reference, $10/barrel in 1998, under Clinton.