At a time when the Saudis and their OPEC cartel might insist on yet another oil production cut, you’d think the administration would be doing everything possible to stimulate domestic production of energy to keep prices low for American consumers and make the president less unpopular with the average voter.
Perhaps Biden even thinks that, but he had to catch himself in a very telling way during a recent speech on the economy and jobs, stopping himself from making a remark that would have angered the climate activists that have embedded themselves in the Democratic Party. Here’s what he said, with a bit more from the speech to add context:
And we’ve strengthened American manufacturing. We’ve creating more jobs in the first two years of any presidency: 735,000 manufacturing jobs. (Applause.) Manufacturing jobs. And we’re still counting. (Applause.)
And Michigan will once again become the manufacturing hub of the nation, and that’s not a joke. Because when I got to the United States Senate as a 29-year-old kid — I had to wait a couple days to be sworn in — but when I got there, this was the — one of the epicenters of manufacturing.
And we’re addressing the climate crisis as well. The climate plan we just passed is going to reduce emissions by 1 billion metric tons by 2030.
And because of our po- — our policies, gasoline prices are coming down. And what’s most exciting about it: People are starting to feel a sense of optimism and the impact of these legislative achievements in their own lives.
It’s going to accelerate in the months ahead. And so many things — you’re going to find out what we’ve already done that we haven’t been able to actually implement yet. We’re in the process of doing it.
Did you catch that? It’s in the fourth paragraph, the second one from bottom in the block quote. In it, Biden says “And because of our po- — our policies“. In other words, he almost said “pro-oil” or “pro-energy” or something similar, likely because he wants the average American to see him as in favor of American energy production and keeping energy costs down rather than against that policy.
But, either catching himself or because someone in his team caught him before it was too late, he didn’t say some variation of “pro-oil.” Instead, stopping himself and changing the wording in a telling way, Biden just said “our policies.”
What that means is that Biden does want Americans to think gas prices are going down, as he stated that specifically, but that for some reason, the likely one being he doesn’t want to anger the climate activists in his party, he can’t say that he’s “pro-oil” and so is forced to just speak of his adminstration’s generic “policies” rather than any particular policy of his administration or the intent (being pro-oil/energy production) behind that policy.
