An anchor on CNBC told United States Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that he and Biden need to be ready to “take the blame” for high oil prices under his presidency.
Buttigieg was speaking with Betsy Quick on CNBC’s “Squawk Newsmaker” when she brought up the White House’s recent bragging over a small drop in gas prices this month after reaching historic highs.
“There have been White House representatives out this week kind of taking a victory lap saying prices are down at the pump, that is surely the case but I just wonder how concerned you should be about taking a victory lap yet,” Quick said.
She noted that “Most Wall Street analysts are anticipating that we will see higher energy prices, in fact, oil prices, above $100 a barrel at this point”
Quick then asked the Transportation Secretary why Biden should get to celebrate solving a problem that he essentially created, “If prices go back up, do you then have to take blame for the higher prices if you take a victory lap now?”
“Look, no one’s out here saying ‘mission accomplished,’ we just want to make sure it’s understood that the measures the president and the administration have taken to help to reduce the price of oil seem to be having an effect,” Buttigieg quickly responded, a reference to George W. Bush’s famous “Mission Accomplished” moment in the War on Terror.
“We all know that no administration, no policy maker, no president directly controls the price of gas or the price of oil but there have been a number of measures we think are helping,” he continued.
Despite the claim by Buttigieg of the president not having control over the prices, Biden has been frequently criticized for halting a significant amount US domestic oil production when he entered office to appease “green energy” groups. Many Republicans have suggested that prices could be reduced and Russia could be stopped simply by restarting drilling and refining in the United States and selling it to the rest of the world.
Joe Biden may feel like he won the war on high gas prices and inflation, but many Americans are still suffering under the effect’s of his policy on the US economy. Do you think anyone really appreciates Biden taking a victory lap or will this just hurt him?
