Democratic pollster John Zogby saw positives in Biden’s moderate actions on Ukraine and graded a B.

Jed Babbin
Grade D-

It was another “big lie” week for Biden and his team featuring his Tuesday statement on energy prices. It went on with another ridiculous performance by Harris and more.

On Tuesday, Biden said, “It’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production.” That was as big a lie as his State of the Union statement that he wanted to secure our borders. Biden’s policies (killing the Keystone XL pipeline, banning oil and gas drilling on federal land, and laying on such a burdensome regulatory regime on the energy industry) are the precise reason gasoline prices are now over $4.20 a gallon in the national average.

While Bidenflation gallops along, Congress gave Biden another $1.5 trillion to spend this week. It’ll only serve to accelerate inflation.

Having been told to go pound sand by the Saudis in his effort to get them to raise oil production, Biden is now trying to find a way to cut oil sanctions against Venezuela in order to get more oil. (Venezuelan oil, by the way, is dirtier, thus more environmentally harmful, than most.) Why is it better to burn Venezuelan oil than U.S. oil? Why not open the pipelines to Canadian oil? Biden is reportedly also considering buying Iranian oil if his new deal with Tehran is finished. Maybe he’ll sell Alaska back to Russia so they can drill for oil there.

That deal has been negotiated by the Russians for Iran. The Russians are already bragging about how Biden was taken to the cleaners on it. We’ll see when it comes out — if Biden allows us to see the details (which former President Barack Obama didn’t).

Harris hit the road for Poland to meet with our allies on the Ukraine war. Asked about how many Ukrainian refugees the United States would absorb, she laughed and said, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” Sure. And a stitch in time saves nine, and a penny saved is a penny earned. Harris is a national embarrassment.

The best thing Biden did was to ban the import of Russian oil, gas, and coal. It won’t hurt Putin’s ability to make war in Ukraine (they’ll sell the oil and gas to China), but it was a necessary step to prevent us from continuing to subsidize that war. Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused to draw a red line against the Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine. Russian forces have committed war crimes many times, intentionally attacking civilians, in the past two weeks. Why isn’t Biden appearing at the United Nations Security Council to condemn Putin?

John Zogby
Grade B

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his country’s soldiers to their slaughter as Ukrainians continue to mount a courageous defense. Putin is clearly not thinking rationally as thousands of Russians take to the streets in protest. The pictures and stories are hard to watch and it is easy to call for a stronger U.S. presence and intervention.

Biden’s decisions to date have been pitch-perfect: rejuvenate NATO, build a global coalition to isolate Russia, tighten the noose of sanctions on those closest to Putin, and avoid anything that threatens to put the U.S. on a war footing with Russia. I hate to think if “other winner” of the 2020 election were at the helm.

Inflation rose at a 7.9% annual rate and will only increase as the full impact of the war is felt.

Thus far, the president’s polling average has ticked up a point or two, but inflation or a too dramatic slowing down of the economy could hurt him in November. But that is later. For now, Biden is in charge, and I appreciate it.

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies