The reason they think it is high is because it was historically low from about 1985 to 2000. Most people (especially kids like myself) aren't old enough to remember oil shocks and major wars that drove the price up. At 24, I got used to buying gas during the oversupply of the late 90s. People have short memories and no concept of inflation. My dad swears that gas prices are insane, even though he was paying much more per mile (inflation adjusted) during high school in the late 70s (due to lower fuel economy and the oil shock at the time).

The reason they complain is like you said... it has somehow become a really visible number. The morning news here cites the price every single day, as if the price of a barrel of oil was going to determine how my day would go. For once, we actually have something worse (more meaningless) than citing the Dow Jones every day.