Bush seems to be doing 'something' about the issue, as his approval rate drops to one in three.

The president said Democrats in the past have urged higher taxes on fuel and price caps to control fuel expenses, but he said neither approach works. Instead, he called for increased conservation, an expansion of domestic production and increased use of alternative fuels like ethanol.

Bush said high energy prices are disturbing.

"Our addiction to oil is a matter of national security concerns," the president said in a speech to the Renewable Fuels Association, which advocates alternate energy sources. "After all, today we get about 60 percent of our oil from foreign countries. That's up from 20 years ago, where about 25 percent of our oil came from foreign countries."

Seems to be the right balance of the appearance of doing something and not being too involved in the market. In the long term, market forces should promote a gas alternative, as the price of gas becomes too expensive to be used.

On the other hand, high gas prices promote a switch in consumer lifestyle, which will probably be the biggest impact to curb prices. If we all dropped consumption by 5%, there would be a corresponding decrease in gas prices.

But clearly it is past time to invest in other energy sources for cars, and the bush admin has done very little to promote increased fuel efficiency or fuel alternatives. Hydrogen fuel is nice, but the energy to make hydrogen has to come from somewhere. Ethanol is better, it's renewable and clean burning, and the quantities are theoretically unlimited. Also we have a large amount of corn that can be used for ethanol. Issues of supply and transport exist however. See here for some of them. See here for some advantages of ethanol. I think the greenhouse gas emission decrease may be more than we think; I am not sure if the amoutn of CO2 consumed by corn plants is taken into the equation.