Front page stories like this showing American officials on their knees to the Saudis annoy the hell out of me.

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Facing strong U.S. pressure and global dismay over oil prices, Saudi Arabia said yesterday that it would produce more crude this year if the market needed it. But the vague pledge fell far short of U.S. hopes for a specific increase and may do little to lower prices immediately.

For now, the current "oil shock" leaves Western countries with little choice but to move toward nuclear power and change their energy-consumption habits, Britain's prime minister warned at a rare meeting of oil-producing and consuming nations.

Saudi Arabia - the world's top crude exporter - called the emergency gathering yesterday to send a message that it, too, is concerned by high oil prices inflicting economic pain worldwide.

Instead, the meeting highlighted the sharp disagreement between producers such as Saudi Arabia and consuming countries such as Britain and the United States over the core factors driving steep price hikes. Oil closed near $135 a barrel on Friday - almost double the price a year ago.

The cost of gasoline also has become a sore point in the U.S. presidential race, with President Bush and Republican candidate John McCain calling on Congress to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, has said such moves would do nothing to ease American consumers' pain short-term.

The United States and other nations argue that oil production has not kept up with increasing demand, especially from China, India and the Middle East. But Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries say there is no shortage of oil and instead blame financial speculation and the falling U.S. dollar.

You know, drilling? The "D" word?

It's more than just an election issue; it's a scandal. There is something galling (to the point of being sickening, IMO) about a country with plenty of oil reserves it refuses to drill being in a position of dependence on countries like Saudi Arabia.

Why people put up with this, I don't know. At least McCain does not hesitate to support drilling (even if he has reservations about ANWR). Obama and his inane "plan" to provide "consumer relief" by taxing the oil companies at the same time he opposes drilling -- all while we're on our knees to the Saudis -- is so laughable that I can't believe it's being reported with a straight face.

But it is. And McCain's common-sense advocacy of offshore drilling is spun as a savage attack -- by McCain the "Drill Seeker" -- on the pristine marine environment. Never mind that with today's technology, not even Hurricane Katrina caused a single spill by any of the rigs it damaged in the Gulf:

Advances in oil technology--which Obama either doesn't know about or chooses to ignore--allow drilling to go far deeper beneath the sea and thus farther from the coast. Some oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are nearly 200 miles from land. Serious spills from drilling offshore have become practically non-existent. More than 100 rigs in the Gulf were damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita without a single spill.

So Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, was wrong. Now, like other Democrats, he's in a politically awkward position. He opposes new drilling for oil and natural gas at a time when drilling in areas currently off limits has become popular. Three-fourths of likely voters in a new Zogby poll said they favor it, and Republicans have made it their top issue against Democrats.

But whether it's reported as a campaign issue or not, voters can see the prices at the pumps. And as it slowly seeps in that we have plenty of oil, but the Democrats and Obama oppose drilling for it, vestiges of that once fierce American spirit of independence may be triggered.

So maybe I shouldn't be complaining. Perhaps I should be glad to see headlines showing us on our knees before the Saudis. (Speaking of keeping a straight face, I don't know how the Saudis resist the temptation to burst out laughing at the incredible American inability to simply drill their own.)

To understand how basic this, it really doesn't matter what anyone's stand is on oil conservation or the environment. In fact, those who believe in the "addiction" model ought to be able to easily understand the dynamics. Politicians and pundits can pontificate all they want about how Americans are "addicted" to oil, but what the political junkies sometimes forget is something so elemental that even the lowest street junkie would immediately get it.

I'll put it in language that anyone familiar with the American street ought to be able understand.

What self-respecting junkie would grovel before his dealer while he still had his own stash?