I'm sorry but the writing has been on the wall for a very long time. Just because people chose to ignore it doesn't mean they can say they didn't see it happening. In fact, if you look at all these 'gas is too high' threads, it's 99% of North Americans complaining. Our European posters stay silent, or just say 'it's not that big of deal'.
After 9/11 it would have been quite easy for the sitting President to have a JFK moment, and remake America's energy plan. So that America didn't have to buy so much oil from the nations that 'hate' America the most. It most certainly wouldn't have taken $2.5 trillion as we have spent in Iraq to move forward with a plan to reduce our oil needs by 15% or 3.5 million barrels per day. It would have taken a fraction of that. Iran and Iraq combined export just shy of 4 million barrels per day.
America had oil crisises before too. In the early 70's. Again in the early 80's. And right after Gulf War I in 1992. Everyone complained then too. As soon as the price came down, Americans forgot about it and bought bigger and bigger vehicles with more and more horsepower while moving further and further away from their places of employment. When will we learn? Will we actually do anything this time? Or if prices come down again shortly forget all about it again until the next crisis? History isn't promising.