Joe Biden’s tenure truly is Barack Obama’s third term, and perhaps no issue makes that clearer than how gas prices are being handled.

Upon taking office, Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, taking with it 11,000 or so high-paying jobs. Other actions dealing with federal leases and permits to drill, including in ANWR, also put a crunch on domestic oil production. Now, middle America is reaping the whirlwind, with gas prices shooting through the roof.

Here was Biden’s commentary on that earlier today.

BIDEN: “Gas prices are lower than they were early in this decade, but they're still high enough to create a pinch on working families." pic.twitter.com/f1jwnb7PWD

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 11, 2021

Think about the absurdity on display in that statement. Am I supposed to be comforted that gas prices are not quite as high as they were at their all-time high? Besides, isn’t it relevant that Biden was in power (as Obama’s VP) the last time gas prices went this crazy? There would seem to be a common denominator in all this, though, the president obviously doesn’t want you to notice it.

As prices continue to climb, a sane reaction would be for the White House to reverse course on their destructive policies which caused the problem in the first place. Unfortunately, we are getting this instead.

FULL STATEMENT: The White House urges OPEC+ to pump more oil (above and beyond the current 400,000 b/d monthly hikes the cartel is already implementing) | #OOTT pic.twitter.com/qnWA1l7Pnt

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 11, 2021

Everything that’s old is truly new again. The United States, which sits on some of the largest oil reserves in existence, is back to begging a third-world cartel to pump oil for us. Welcome back to the glorious days of 2009.

What’s so frustrating about this is that nothing that is being done by the administration actually makes any sense. Drilling by oil companies in the United States is meticulous. When they leave, you are barely even able to tell they were there. They abide by some of the strictest, most expensive regulations on the books. Claims of grave environmental concerns just don’t pass muster, and if the goal is to move to renewables, doesn’t it make sense to use the oil we have in the ground?

Yet, Biden remains completely beholden to irrational left-wing forces within his administration, and that’s especially true regarding energy policy. Part of that is him being senile, but the other part of it is him being a coward who doesn’t want to take any heat. He ran as a “moderate” who would be pragmatic. Instead, he’s governed as Obama on steroids.

The backlash among the electorate is building, and OPEC isn’t going to save Democrats. Many Americans are realizing that leadership does actually matter and that a lack of mean tweets doesn’t pay the bills. Faux decorum doesn’t add up to much when inflation is draining your bank account. Couple this with Biden’s refusal to reverse course at the border as well, and you can see why predictions of a red wave in 2022 are becoming more common.