The White House is on the "Blame Vlad" horse and charging forward.  It's not working.

President Biden got a double-bit of bad news.

First, Rasmussen reported that he is at 39% job approval.  So much for the SOTU bounce or whatever else was supposed to turn things around.

Second, Americans are not falling for the "Vlad did it" story.  This is from Fox News:

Americans feeling the price at the pump told Fox News that President Biden's claim that he "can't do much" about soaring gas prices does not add up.

"That's a bunch of bull," Chester from Kentucky said.

Lynn, of South Dakota, told Fox News: "There has to be reserves here in the states, that they can release."

During a gaggle with reporters in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday, President Biden was asked what he was going to do about rising gas prices.

"Can't do much right now. Russia is responsible," Biden replied.

Robert from Tampa disagreed with that assessment.

"No, it has been going for some time now," Robert told Fox News. "Like inflation, it's not something that happened in a couple of weeks."

Anne said she doesn't understand President Biden's decision to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline.

"We have potential to take care of some of our own needs rather than go foreign," she added.

By the way, I won't tell you what they think of President Biden talking to Nicolás Maduro in Florida.  It won't help down there, which is why a lot of Democrats are balking at the idea.  You want the 200,000 or so Venezuelans to pass their citizenship test and cast a vote for Senator Marco Rubio?  Keep talking about sitting down with Maduro.

In the meantime, I just paid $55 today to fill up our Nissan Altima.  I did not hear anyone at the gas station blaming Vlad.

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Image: Max Pixel.