On the same day that President Joe Biden called out Russia and and issued harsh sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, his only other public appearance was an event focused on the need to unkink the supply chain for minerals used in batteries, electronics and other technologies. The back-to-back events on Tuesday highlighted the competing claims for Biden’s attention entering the spring of a midterm election year: the prospect of a calamitous European land war that will only add to inflation and other problems at home while also managing a vexing set of domestic challenges and must-do tasks. For Biden, the convergence of such urgent foreign and domestic issues puts to a test the often cavalier assertions of previous administrations that a president has to be able to “walk and chew gum” at the same time. Biden acknowledged the troubling overlap in remarks Tuesday as oil and gasoline prices have climbed on the grim headlines from Ukraine. He announced sanctions against Russian financial institutions, oligarchs and banks as well as Russia’s sovereign debt, effectively cutting the country off from U.S. and European financial systems. Yet Biden also said he wants to limit the “pain” to Americans because sanctions aimed at pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin could also limit Russia’s exports of oil and natural gas and cause global energy prices to soar. “I want to take robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at a Russian economy, not ours,” the president said at the White House. “We’re closely monitoring energy supplies for any disruption. We’re executing a planned coordination with major oil producing consumers and producers toward a collective investment to secure stability and global energy supplies.” His White House this week is also vetting nominees for a coming opening on the Supreme Court. Add that 40-year high inflation, a stalled domestic agenda, a slew of executive orders to enforce, infrastructure dollars to spend and sagging approval ratings that could make implementation all the more difficult. And the impact of the COVID pandemic, while seeming to fade, is still being felt. Biden used the minerals event to stress the importance of investing in U.S. production and avoiding reliance on China. California Gov. Gavin Newsom greeted Biden at the minerals event Tuesday afternoon by expressing surprise that the virtual event hadn’t been rescheduled because of Ukraine. “I had an over-under that you were going do this today,” Newsom joked. “Thank you for not canceling on us.” The start of a Russia invasion into Ukraine has spillover effects for Biden’s previous plans. It takes time to barnstorm the country and rally support for Democrats as he said he would do to try to maintain control of Congress in the midterm elections and it gets tougher to defuse inflation as the U.S. and its European allies escalate sanctions against Russia. The invasion also puts Biden in a holding pattern, as he plans to amplify sanctions only to counter any additional aggression from Putin. “The fact that Putin is in control of when and how and to what degree he invades, really places Biden in a very difficult position,” said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “Putin looks like he is completely in charge.” All of this takes away from the problem that Americans […]

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