Obama faced with a failing economy in an election year might decide to got to war, distracting the electorate and using war powers to invoke greater power over the economy
The spike in gold was in January 1980 in the middle of of full blown confrontation between the US and the Soviets
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video?id=4180499
The key issue was the risk of the Russians invading the Persian gulf from Afghanistan
Oil spiked to $39 a barrel (the all time highest price till 2008)
Gold is a store of wealth during high risk time, gold becomes more valuable as risk rises, as we move into some very challenging times over the next 12-36 months gold is likely to react to the massive risk that is now building in the geo political system.