For the appeaser-in-chief, lower gasoline prices are becoming politically expensive.

Joe Biden finds himself, as a  “political and world leader,” between a rock and a hard place when it comes to rising gasoline prices, despite record U.S. oil output and his raiding of the Strategic Oil Reserve (SRO).  The scale of Biden’s SRO releases, roughly 200 million barrels, dwarfed those of his predecessors, sending stores in the reserves to their lowest levels since the 1980s.  Pressure by Congress is building to actually enforce sanctions against Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.

If (and this is a big “if”) Biden does enforce existing sanctions, prices will increase.  That’s bad politically.  A YouGov and Economist March poll suggests that inflation is the most important issue to voters, with 24% of them considering it their top priority.  An April Gallup survey found that rising gasoline prices this year have lowered voters’ economic outlook.  Lower oil prices boost economic outlook because lower prices benefit most consumers with cheaper gasoline, cheaper travel, and lower prices of many manufactured goods.  But Biden appears to ignore poll results as he continues his appeasement routine.

After Iran launched an attack on Israel, Biden (once again) did nothing regarding Iran oil sanctions.  Russian oil and Venezuelan oil is shipped to Southeast Asia, then transferred from tanker to tanker, then relabeled as coming from a non-sanctioned oil producer.  Biden knows that this has been going on for years.  Does he stop this by enforcing sanctions?  No!  Why?  Maritime security expert Jan Stockbruegger says Biden has an overarching reason not to apply oil sanctions.  “Without Russian or Iranian oil, our oil price would be higher.  Elections are usually decided through the price of gas. ... [Biden] has an incentive to make sure oil prices are low.”

Here’s the bottom line: hesitant to increase oil prices in an election year, Biden has been reluctant to use the oil sanctions weapon, to enforce sanctions so as to bring misbehaving countries into line with our view.

Image: lalabell68 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.