How to lose friends and fail voters

“The president isn’t going to act precipitously. He is going to act methodically, strategically, and he’s going to take his time to consult with members of both parties and also to have an opportunity for Congress to return so that he can sit with them in person and work through the options.”

This is what White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, as quoted by Aljazeera, about President Biden’s response to the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production.

It’s great to see the time-honoured tradition of reality-creation upheld so staunchly in this day and age. If one says the president is being methodical then he is being methodical regardless of what he actually does, although I’m sure an argument could be made that Biden has, in fact, been really methodical about destroying the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia.

As for the strategic part of the above statement, it’s difficult to make an argument that the White House has been particularly strategic about any of its energy policies. Yes, I know some observers of the energy area believe the alienation of the oil and gas industry is part of the transition plan but to me it still looks more like a blunder rather than a deliberate strategic development.

Just look at their approach to securing critical minerals for the Big Transition Plan: instead of first facilitating mine permitting, the administration first set grandiose targets for the electrification of everything and then started to think how the minerals needed for that electrification will come about.

But back to OPEC and the Saudis. As we all heard, Biden threatened Riyadh with “consequences” for Riyadh’s decision to take Russia’s side, per the White House, and cut oil production just weeks from the U.S. midterms. These consequences remain to be specified but in the meantime something quite interesting is happening. Members are stepping up to declare their allegiance to the OPEC+ group.