Heading into the fall and winter, the Northeast and Midwest again could face rising prices for heating oil and natural gas. It all depends on how he handles it. Yet if he appears to be too much against the environment and too much on the side of the oil and gas industry at a time it already is enjoying record profits, he risks losing touch with the people. If his policy ultimately fails to ease a crisis, his presidency could go the way of Jimmy Carter's. Carter was in the Oval Office the last time Americans faced soaring fuel costs and energy shortages, and those issues were a major factor in his defeat in 1980.
Symbols are important.
He could turn down his own thermostat. Bush agrees that the country should be more efficient. Bush also appears reluctant to force the American people to conserve. Already, Bush has urged opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for oil and gas. That is particularly risky for a president and vice president who both worked in the oil industry.