According to Jim Cramer of CNBC, who does not introduce a lot of political material into his Mad Money show, and who himself is rumored to be a Democrat, the falloff in crude prices is due to a softening of demand in both Europe and China.
Our production levels here, on private land, are also up so there is the supply element of the equation as well.
One important part to realize though is that the Democrats, and Obama specifically, have terminated many leases on public land for drilling, have opposed in their weasily way the Keystone pipleline by not even having it come up for vote. They will "investigate" that for 100 years first
. And ever since the oil rig mishap in the Gulf, which since it was during Obama's term was the "BP Oil Spill" instead of "George W. Bush's irresponsible Oil Disaster", the amount of offshore drilling was also severely cut, with many of the rigs going to Brazil instead.
The bottom line is that the price of oil is down due to decreased demand and increased supply on private land, in spite of the Democrats doing everything they can to block our ability to actually drill for oil here on the public land.
Oh, and with the lower prices, though they are certainly temporary, some Democrats are proposing increases in the gas tax since we can "afford" it now. Those tax increases will of course be permanent, so if they turn this decrease into a recent average price by adding taxes, the future prices will be record highs due to the same taxation. Hopefully this will not come to pass.
So don't pull a muscle waving that flag for the Democrats. We'd be that much better off had their opposite been in office.