Our new book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses state and congressional elections. There are some favorable signs for Democrats in the 2022 midterms -- but energy and inflation are not currently among them.
The Ukraine crisis could add to their woes.
This is a cause that unites Republicans and Democrats. And I want to thank the leaders and members of Congress of both parties who have forcefully spoken out in defense of our most basic, most bipartisan, most American principles.
I will not pretend this will be painless. There could be impact on our energy prices, so we are taking active steps to alleviate the pressure on our own energy markets and offset rising prices.
We’re coordinating with major enersy [sic] — energy consumers and producers. We’re prepared to deploy all the tools and authority at our disposal to provide relief at the gas pump.
And I will work with Congress on additional measures to help protect consumers and address the impact of prices at the pump.
Republicans most certainly won’t give Biden a pass due to tensions abroad. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell criticizes the president for higher energy and food prices, contending that “the Biden administration seems less interested in trying to solve this problem than in trying to persuade families the pain is just in their heads.”
In a December AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, most Americans -- 85% -- said they’d experienced higher than usual prices for both groceries and gas in recent months. And in an open-ended question about top issues for the government to be working on, 10% named gas prices and energy costs, a sign of the political challenge confronting Biden.
“Given the world that we’re in, any increase in prices of commodities, even if that is transitory, even if the Federal Reserve generally tries to look past obvious supply shocks in making its decisions, it adds to the policy conundrum,” said Gerard DiPippo, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It puts the White House in a bind.”
