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Gas prices in the US have stayed high with the nationwide average price per gallon now at $3.18, boosting an on-going partisan political battle. A day after Presidential GOP candidate Rick Santorum blasted President Obama in Louisiana for hampering the domestic oil and gas industry, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal also slammed him, saying “people used to think it was because of incompetence from [the] Obama administration on energy – I think it’s because of ideology. They’re pursuing a radical environmental ideology.” Obama is hitting back saying his administration’s energy plan is continuing to make “significant progress” on increasing domestic production while cutting oil imports from other countries. In fact, in 2011, domestic oil production rose 120,000 barrels a day compared to the year before, according to a report released on Monday by half a dozen federal government agencies. Still, limited public understanding of what spurs gas prices at the pump have led to increased frustration with the President – according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, 65% of respondents disapproved of his handling of high gas prices, even as 50% say they don’t believe he has any power to control them. Now, oil analyst Michael Klare, in a new book explains why so many popular notions of what’ s behind high gas prices are wrong, and why gas prices are going to stay high for the foreseeable future.

GUEST: Michael Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, and author of a number of books including Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, and his latest book, The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources

Read his latest article on Tom Dispatch here.