A Terrible Answer: To Stop Russia, Biden Says American Drivers Will Pay More ‘as Long as It Takes’

The president in Madrid this week:

Q : The war [in Ukraine] has pushed [oil] prices up.  They could go as high as $200 a barrel, some analysts think.  How long is it fair to expect American drivers and drivers around the world to pay that premium for this war?

THE PRESIDENT:  As long as it takes, so Russia cannot, in fact, defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine.  This is a critical, critical position for the world.  Here we are.  Why do we have NATO?

Brian Deese, the director of Biden’s National Economic Council, made similar remarks yesterday.

This is a terribly ineffective way to get the president off the hook for his policies that are generally hostile to oil companies and seek to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, and an inadvertently effective way to get Americans to doubt the value of supporting Ukraine against Russia.

Because high gas prices rank among the most dire problems facing the country right now:

Two-thirds of Americans say recent increases in the price of gas are causing them hardship, which is up from 52 percent feeling this financial pinch in April. Although more Americans say they are experiencing “moderate” rather than “severe” hardship, the percentage describing the hardship as severe has risen from 14 percent to 22 percent.

The latest results are based on a June 1-20 Gallup survey. The 67 percent experiencing hardship is among the highest levels Gallup has found when asking this question at other times of rising gas prices since 2000. The last time it was at this level was in May 2011.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the war spurred a dramatic and unifying effect on American public opinion:

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a dramatic shift in American public opinion: 70 percent of Americans now consider Russia an enemy of the United States, up from 41 percent in January. And on this topic, Democrats and Republicans largely agree, with 72 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of Republicans describing Russia as an enemy.

A new Pew Research Center survey, conducted March 21-27, finds that just 7 percent of U.S. adults have an overall favorable opinion of Russia.

But no one asked Americans whether they were willing to pay about $5 per gallon indefinitely as part of this conflict. (Note that U.S. gas prices did not reach these heights, even during conflicts in other oil-rich regions like Iraq!) Americans loathe Putin’s aggression and the Russian army’s barbaric brutality and war crimes.

The Russian invasion exacerbated rising gasoline prices, but these exorbitant prices are also driven by federal policies designed to discourage investment in fossil fuels, shutting down pipelines, insufficient refinery capacity, and rising demand after the pandemic. Scapegoating Putin for a severe energy crisis that is largely self-inflicted may well have the opposite effect than Biden intends.