Exactly. If you look back to Volcker's time, he had to raise rates up near 20% to combat inflation. Raising them gradually up to 6%, where they typically are, barely did anything. However, the oil link between oil and the economy collapsing is a bit less tenuous than you are suggesting.
y = c + i + g + nx
If net exports plummet because oil imports (dollar value) are soaring and domestic production is declining, the economy is going to falter. I'm not sure oil prices necessarily catalyzed the credit implosion, but the US economy was under immense pressure.
Consumptive imports for 2008 were $327B. Consumptive imports for 2014 were $178B. We're on pace for roughly $115B this year. Free GDP growth at 1.5% plus higher domestic production. Oil is a big part of our recovery, and you can see why Democrats don't really oppose fracking and Republicans don't really oppose CAFE (or the concept of fuel efficiency).
