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As I kicked out what had to be nearly $150 in gas money round-trip from New York to Danville, Virginia this weekend, I started thinking that there had to be a better way.

And now as I hear predictions from some circles that we should expect to see prices as high as $6 a gallon this summer, I figure there’s gotta be something the president can do—should he ever get around getting this Qaddafi thing squared away.

But wait… has the president beat me to it? Could he be considering…? No, that would be insane! But wait, I have heard a rumor… Is it true that President Obama is actually considering opening up the oil reserves?

The oil reserve, for the uninitiated, is the total amount of producible oil less the amount that is held in “reserve” for reasons of national security.

In other words, a certain amount of oil is always held in place in case the country goes to war and to avoid being beholden to a foreign nation to mobilize our military.

Given America’s currently paranoid nature, it makes perfect sense that politicians on both sides of the spectrum have taken adamant though often conflicting positions on the issue.

What’s to stop Canada or Mexico from trying to “set it” on us after we pulled such a move?

More seriously however, under the assumption that such a security breach were to take place,

1)      The oil reserves would only be of genuine value in the supremely unlikely event that another country actually invades the United States,

2)      As a Black man—Black Commander-in-Chief at that—I could only hope that President Obama would be familiar some important military history.

North Africa’s own Hannibal Barca laid siege to Italy for 15 years without a single defeat. He did this by turning all the possessions of his conquered into spoils, including the conquered Italian armies themselves.

We could only hope that President Obama, should we be forced to fight some foreign nation, would have the good sense to take on an oil-rich one (is Libya suddenly starting to make more sense?).

Also, the timing would have to be perfect.

Lest we forget that Obama is a politician, it wouldn’t be prudent to lower them gas prices too far in advance of the next election, now would it?

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