Add to all this the administration's downright contemptuous and contemptible attitude toward conservation -- the only surefire way to reduce the need for more oil -- and it becomes unmistakably clear that when it comes to Bush's energy policy, special-interest money has once again trumped the public interest.

It should be the first lesson in Political Chemistry 101: Oil money and good government don't mix. Not in Saudi Arabia, and not in the United States.

Of course, our nation's untreated addiction to oil is costing us more than just at the gas pump -- it's putting our very security at risk by leaving us beholden to the whims of any number of oil-rich and terrorist-friendly nations.

This continued dependence on foreign oil is why Prince Bandar was more in the loop about plans to invade Iraq than our own secretary of state, why the administration's much touted passion for human rights doesn't extend to oil-rich -- and brutal -- Kazakhstan, why we're spending close to $100 million in taxpayer money to arm and train troops to defend an Occidental Petroleum pipeline in Colombia, and, at least partly, why young Americans continue to arrive home from Iraq (secretly, of course) in body bags.

It's time for Washington to dole out some tough love to the energy and auto industry lobbies and help set them on the path of reform, starting with increasing fuel efficiency standards for all cars, light trucks and SUVs -- the single biggest step we can take to conserve energy. Raising standards from the current 27.5 miles per gallon to 36 mpg would save us roughly 2 million barrels a day -- about the same amount we currently import from the Persian Gulf.

Washington must also push Detroit to radically increase its production of hybrid cars and SUVs, and lead the way in teaming with corporate America to rapidly accelerate investment in energy efficiency, hydrogen-based technology, and renewable sources of energy like solar and wind. A great model for this is the new Apollo Project, a $300 billion program proposed by unions and environmental groups to create 3 million new jobs while helping America achieve energy independence over the next 10 years.

And, oh yeah, there's one more number:

2: the date in November when we must make sure to vote Bush out of office and replace him with someone whose judgment hasn't been polluted by all that oil money spilling into his campaign coffers and then leaking into our energy policy.

Don't let the skyrocketing numbers at the gas pump fool you: America isn't confronting a shortage of fuel; it's confronting a shortage of leadership.

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