Many people are  under the misguided belief that the government or the President can control gas prices.  This is false and I will explain why. 

To begin, in economics if the market price of a commodity is set below the equilibrium price, then a shortage of the commodity will occur as the quantity demanded will increase.  Conversely a surplus will occur when market price is above equilibrium as quantity demanded will diminish.  This is true of any commodity or service in a free market system.  Below is a graph showing this very basic economic truth ( FLVS 4_ 02):

Here is more evidence why from the venerable economics department at the  University of Chicago.  A 41 member panel of experts there agreed with the statement "Changes is US gasoline prices over the past 10 years has been due predominantly to market factors rather than the US federal economics policies".

The first  reason  why this is true is because the US is a small supplier of oil and gas.  We consume much more of the product than we produce so in effect we have very little control over the supply hence the price. Although it is true that we have increased our national consumption we are still small potatoes on a global scale.  The graph below illustrates the price of global oil consumption:

The graph below shows how US production of oil has increased during the Obama administration and dependence on foreign oil has lessened somewhat.  This simply rejects the idea that it is Pres. Obama's fault for high gas prices. 

So back to why we cannot effectively control the price of gas.  Sellers control the market place and the US is a buyer in the oil consumption game globally.The second reason that we cannot control gas  prices is that oil producers are all together on this commodity with OPEC nations.  They are the major producers while we are majorly consumers.
The third reason price controls won't work is that lets be honest here and realize that companies have a profit motive and if we take away incentive and motivation form that, why have a free market economy?  In conclusion it should be clear to the newest student of economics that supply and demand control the price of any commodity including oil.  Our only choices result in increasing our supply or decreasing our demand.   That would be a challenge to accomplish in this very personal vehicle-based society.
Many  Americans believe that individual oil companies control the price and production of oil. This is incorrect and the policies are themselves very complicated.  In OPEC each nation which is a member has a certain production quota.  There are companies which operate outside of the OPEC supra-nationalist organization but they are small in comparison and their supplies do little to effect world wide supply and demand cycles.  So that argument is incorrect.

Sources
The New York Times. "Why gas prices are out of the President's control" 3/31/2012. Web.. 3/25/2014

Investopedia."Why you can't influence gas prices", Neilson, Gary. Web. N.p.2/26/2011. Web. 3/25/2014.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/gas-price-emails.asp

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/business/gas-prices-are-out-of-any-presidents-control.html