Save Democracy. Spend more for gasoline.
Would you pay $8/gallon for gasoline if it were the price of saving democracy?
Joe Biden has a job to do. Tell us what we need to do, and why.
Wearing blue and yellow isn't enough.
We are in an emergency. A nuclear power is invading a democratic country for the naked purpose of changing national borders.
There is hypocrisy and sleight of hand in the West's policy toward fossil fuels. We stopped pipeline approval and limited drilling leases on federal land in North America. That pleases the environmental community. The net result worldwide, though, is that countries trying to be "green" moved fossil fuel extraction offshore. Out of sight, out of guilty conscience. There was a geopolitical corollary: Western democracies became more dependent on Russian oil and natural gas.
The most visible source of American voter unhappiness with inflation comes from the price of gasoline at the pump. There are 42 gallons of oil in a barrel, of which 19 or 20 become gasoline. Crude oil prices and gasoline prices generally move together.
Oil prices are up amid this crisis in Ukraine. Benchmark prices are at $118/barrel as I type this. They briefly hit $130 in an overnight futures price. The benchmark for U.S. oil has doubled. People are complaining about high gasoline prices.
President Joe Biden has an opportunity to appeal to Americans' patriotism.
Tell us the tough news.
Biden needs to tell the American people that there is a price to pay for democracy and peace, and we are going to pay it. Say we are going to try to protect Ukraine without engaging Russia in a war of mutual destruction. We are going to export as much U.S. oil as we can manage, so Europe has a substitute source. The price of gasoline will go up in the USA. It will be painful and the pain is worth it.
He can say he will try to mitigate the pain. Relax some fracking rules temporarily to increase American production, and admit that it comes at a cost to the environment and our long term climate goals. Say it is temporary but necessary. Expect criticism. Announce some restrictions on federal travel and use of fuel, especially Air Force One. Say we need to save fuel for practice missions to keep military pilots at top training.
Biden can put this it into a context of peace. High gasoline prices is how we avoid a shooting war. Acknowledge there is suffering and sacrifice for Americans who must drive. Don't underplay it. Embrace it and say it is worth it. Tough messages of national purpose are what we expect from a president of integrity.
If Biden fails to do this, he can be certain another narrative will take hold. Republicans will say that the $$6 or $8 a gallon gasoline prices are Biden's failure. A Republican only needs to say that something should have been done better and by someone else.
Americans are ready to sacrifice if we know that it is necessary, for a good cause, and that it won't last forever.
Let's go, Joe.