Joe Biden’s chief of staff gave a deliberately obtuse response when asked Sunday to defend the administration’s politically motivated depletion of the strategic oil reserves ahead of the midterm elections.
Ron Klain dismissed Republican criticism of Biden’s approach, saying Biden is doing exactly what his opponents asked for by easing gas prices, Breitbart reported.
Biden official defends oil reserves use
Of course, Klain is completely missing the point – seemingly on purpose. Republicans say that Biden is selfishly misusing strategic national assets as a band-aid for energy inflation that Biden’s own policies needlessly caused.
But Klain pretended to not understand that point during a cable news hit with Morning Joe.
“Well, I’d say first of all, we had Republicans say, hey, he needs to do something about gas prices, and then we did something about gas prices, and they’re, like, well, don’t do that,” he said. “So, it’s hard for me to take the criticism very seriously.”
Ah, so snarky. If there’s anything the Biden administration is good at, it’s sassy back talk. But how are they handling inflation? Just take it from Klain. Tasked with talking up the administration’s response, he touted a price drop that occurred months ago during the summer.
“We brought the price of gas down all summer long, almost $1.50. And then, around this action with Saudi Arabia, it started to go back up a bit.”
Shameless spin
Klain went on to incoherently claim that Biden will “responsibly increase” oil production and usher in a “clean energy” future at the same time.
“We think this country can have energy security and a clean energy future. That’s the direction we’re moving America in.”
Contrary to Klain’s rosy spin, voter dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the economy is widely expected to cost Democrats control of Congress in a few weeks.
In a desperate attempt to ease gas prices before the election, Biden decided to release another 15 million barrels from the strategic oil reserve Wednesday. Once again showing what little respect he has for the American voter, Biden insisted his move had nothing to do with politics. Right.
The administration says they will refill the reserves, which are now at their lowest levels in decades, at three times the price Trump wanted to pay before he was blocked by Democrats, the Daily Caller reported. Nice going, Joe.