My gas tank is nearing empty and only one thing’s for sure: The next time I fill up I’ll be paying more than $4 a gallon.

At an appearance earlier this week at a foreign-owned wind turbine plant in Pennsylvania, President Barack Obama was asked about high gas prices. In an AP report that has since been scrubbed of any mention of the incident, Obama’s answer was characterized thusly:

“Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.”

You can watch the professor’s lecture here:

Ignore Obama’s misleading numbers on U.S. oil reserves—that’s an excuse for why his administration is putting so many areas off-limits to oil exploration and production.

Instead let’s focus on basic economics, a subject on which President Obama has repeatedly shown stunning ignorance. Let’s assume for a minute (not that this is necessarily true) that the man did have a big, gas-guzzling SUV. With gas prices at the levels they are at now, is he likely to get a good deal on the sale of that SUV?

No.

If the recent rise in gas prices from about $3 a gallon to $3.70 a gallon is causing economic hardship, is the purchase of a new vehicle likely to alleviate that hardship? Great, you’re saving $40 on gas a month, but now you’ve got a $300 car payment.

If gas prices are still high this time next year, and Obama keeps on showing this kind of empathy and understanding, he’ll be a one-termer like his malaise-loving predecessor, President Carter.