The latest Washington Post/ABC poll shows that high gas prices are hurting President Obama's approval ratings. Every time fuel prices go up, politicians get nervous, because voters apparently expect the federal government to direct the world market price the minute gas rises over three dollars a gallon. Those politicians should know better, but that doesn't stop them from behaving as though Americans have every right to blame Washington — or at least their opponents in Washington, anyway — for volatility in the oil market.