The good news for the White House on gas prices is that they're down from painful summer peaks. The bad news for the White House on gas prices is that they're still substantially higher than when President Biden took office. There is a way to avoid tone-deaf triumphalism -- not this administration's speciality, admittedly -- while also touting improvement. It's a tricky needle to thread, but not an impossible one. But repeating easily-refutable lies does not seem advisable.
So that's precisely what Biden is doing, naturally. This was over the weekend:
BIDEN: "In 41 states plus D.C., the average gasoline price is less than $2.99."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 24, 2022
That's completely made up. There are ZERO states with an average price under $2.99/gal — and gas prices remain $1.31/gal higher than when Biden took office. pic.twitter.com/cSsIB9WmOs
Just flagrantly false. Did he just misspeak? Apparently not, since he's still at it:
Joe Biden claims again — falsely — that gas is below $3/gal in some states.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 26, 2022
There are ZERO states with an average price under $3/gal — and gas prices remain $1.34/gal higher than when Biden took office. pic.twitter.com/wG2oVAXgWU
In fact, gas prices may again be trending in the wrong direction:
The average price of gas in the U.S. increased for the seventh straight day Tuesday after more than three months of falling prices—and it’s over $5 per gallon in four states amid tight supplies as Russia escalates its war in Ukraine and Hurricane Ian jeopardizes oil production in the Gulf of Mexico...Gas is the most expensive in California, where a gallon costs $5.88 on average—up from $5.46 last week, according to AAA data. Nevada, Oregon and Washington also saw jumps back over the $5 threshold, to $5.12, $5.12 and $5.02, respectively—more than a 50 cent increase in Oregon and Washington and a 40 cent jump in Washington...Gas is cheapest in Mississippi ($3.07), followed by Louisiana and Texas, where a gallon costs $3.11.
So, not below $3 per gallon in any state, despite what the president has now said on multiple occasions, falsely. Also notice how the fact-checks embedded above come from the Republican Party. I haven't seen much of anything from journalists -- who swarmed like locusts to correct and expose every single exaggeration, distortion or lie from Donald Trump -- upbraiding this president for spreading this misinformation. A cynic might wonder if journalists' aversion to call out falsehoods might be informed by our proximity to the election, in which higher gas prices could wreak further havoc on the prospects of their preferred party. Some of them seem frustrated that Biden has been unable to take a satisfying victory lap on his 'wins' because pesky reality keeps rudely intruding. Charles Cooke responds to one such lament at National Review:
Of course Biden is finding it hard to take a victory lap. There's no victory to celebrate. https://t.co/E9jlFFddt4
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) September 26, 2022
In Politico...Adam Cancryn tells a sad tale of the economic and political injustices that are being suffered by our 46th president. “The White House,” Cancryn reports, "finally believes it has an economic story worth telling. Now, it’s trying to figure out how to get voters to listen. Emboldened by a string of legislative victories, President Joe Biden has leaned into his record on the economy, increasingly confident that the nation’s outlook is brightening after months under a cloud of rising prices and consumer anxiety." And the problem is? "But just as the White House was rushing to capitalize on its winning streak — in hopes of turning around an economic narrative that has dogged the administration from its earliest days — complications have arisen."...So, the “complications” that have “arisen” are . . . all the things that have been a problem for a long time now, and that President Biden, who would rather do other things, has decided either to ignore or to make worse?
It's all so unfair to Joe and the Democrats. I'll leave you with this:
The entire White House is promoting an article that says despite a small bump in consumer confidence, "a Leading Economic Index notched its sixth consecutive drop, which the organization’s senior director of economics said is 'potentially signaling a recession.'" https://t.co/SBR05RRkul
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 27, 2022
