PETRO-POLITICS: “News out this afternoon is that Obama is looking into opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a means to relieve pressure at the gas pump. Someone at the White House woke up and realized that the welcome springtime fall in gasoline prices has reversed course and retraced its steps, as shown in the first chart below of gasoline futures prices. I can tell you that out here on the Left Coast, the price of premium gasoline has reached $4.99 a gallon at my nearest station, but then California deserves it.”