Hello, Jim. "Why would someone who wanted to get the price of a commodity up, want to discontinue new purchases (for the oil reserve) let alone release oil from that reserve, that would cause the price, of oil, to drop?"
Why, indeed. The answer to your question (if it is not rhetorical) may actually hold within its confines the answer as to who should be our next president; if we want the long-term good of the people to be the deciding factor in the election.
In other words, to be or not to be is not the question in this case, what to be is the question: Has President Bush made the determination that he will push forward initiatives that will benefit mankind?...or is he going to try to raise the price of his and his buddies oil holdings.
When we know the answer to that question, and a few others, and we figure out what Mr. Kerry stands for, we will be well on the way to knowing who to vote for.