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Actually, the lowering of the dollar isn't as big a problem for the US as it is for the rest of the world, at least as far as trade is concerned. It makes US products cheaper in comparison to the rest of the world's, which other countries have problems with. This can also be seen in China, which has been accused of artificially lowering their currency's value to stimulate trade.
And the rising price of oil has hurt the EU's economy more than it has America's, because oil prices are based on the dollar. OPEC needed to raise prices to compensate for the devaluing of the dollar.
The reason I believe that reducing reliance on oil isn't higher priority is because there's no need yet. There are still vast oil reserves, many untapped. From a business perspective it's more expensive trying to develop new energy technologies than relying on oil.
National finances are quite separate from personal finances. In personal finance, borrowing can be seen as a sign of weakness, whereas that's not the case for national finance. Also, there is really no way to collect on national debt, because it's allocated throughout many places. It's on a totally different level.
As for debt reduction not being a higher priority, again I don't think it's seen as a large problem. And even if it was, it's hard to explain macroeconomic theory to the masses in a way that it could be traded on for political capital.
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