President Joe Biden's administration is struggling due to a variety of issues but possibly the most damaging is the soaring price of energy which consumers acutely feel at the pump.

From a big-picture perspective, it's unfair to blame this administration as many of these problems are decades in the making and due to longer-term supply and demand forces that transcend politics. Additionally, there are complicating factors like Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other issues which were inherited. The biggest example of this is the decline in refining capacity which means that gasoline prices are about 40% above where they were when oil was previously at these levels.

Of course, this analysis is irrelevant in terms of electoral success. There is also the matter of his campaign statements in which he forcefully spoke out against domestic fossil fuel extraction and has generally opposed measures that would increase supply. And, companies have cited this regulatory risk and 'hostile environment' as reasons it continues to focus on cash flow and paying off debt rather than drilling new wells.

What's interesting is that Biden doesn't seem willing to upset the environmental wing of the Party by looking for levers to increase domestic energy production. Instead, he is using the 'bully pulpit' to not much success in terms of domestic production.

He has been more aggressive in terms of courting petroleum-producing countries to increase oil production. The most visible change was his trip to Saudi Arabia. At a certain point in time, this trip would not have been politically viable, especially for Democrats who spoke out against the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist. This sentiment is another casualty of plunging approval ratings and high energy prices.

Unfortunately, these efforts fizzled with nothing to show for it, other than Saudi Arabia getting a photo-op because of it. It's also increasingly clear that Saudi Arabia is allied with countries like China and Russia that see the U.S. as hypocritical in terms of its criticisms of other countries.

Something similar played out with Iran as the Biden Administration was willing to renegotiate a nuclear deal with the country in exchange for giving Iranian oil access to world markets. These efforts failed, as Russia was involved in the negotiations and Iran was unwilling to cross its ally. Something similar also played out in Venezuela, where there were unconfirmed reports of negotiations with the U.S. This ended in similar fashion as Venezuela seems unwilling to cross Russia and reverse its decades-long policy of antagonism towards the U.S.