SANTE FE, New Mexico, Oct 11 (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry charged Monday that President George W. Bush had broken a pledge to make OPEC hike oil production, and vowed to wean US consumers off Middle East oil.
Kerry claimed the president was more interested in enriching oil industry friends than helping middle class Americans struggling to pay their bills, two days before his final head-to-head debate with Bush.
"Four years ago, when he was running for president, George Bush said 'what I think the president ought to do is ... get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say, we expect you to open your spigots,'" Kerry said.
"Today, four years later, with gas prices at a record level, we're still waiting for George Bush to make that phone call."
Bush, who is running neck and neck with Kerry in most polls ahead of the November 2 presidential election, used that quote, or variations on it frequently on the campaign trail in 2000.
Kerry spoke hours after members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) insisted on Sunday there was enough oil, despite sky-high prices.
"There's no shortage, there'll be no shortage, and we are willing to meet demand as it rises," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
But Kerry vowed "I want America's energy future, I want America's security to be in the hands of Americans and in our own ingenuity, our own innovation not the Saudi royal family or others around the world."
Kerry says he has a plan to improve fuel efficiency and to pioneer a new generation of renewable and alternative energy sources which will free American of the need for oil from the Middle East within 10 years.
He often uses rising oil prices to expose what he said Monday was Bush's "gross mismanagement" of the war in Iraq, and wants to ensure no American soldiers have to die in future because of US dependence on Middle Eastern oil.