Gas prices are in the danger zone. Biden can't do much about it

President Joe Biden's 2022 is off to a dreadful start. Prices at the pump could make it even worse.

Crude oil has already zoomed back to two-month highs. Gasoline prices, which move with a lag, have stopped their muted decline. And they're starting to creep higher again.

The energy resurgence is only going to add to the economic anxiety gripping the United States and sinking Biden's poll numbers.

"This is a terrible situation. Gas prices are in this political danger zone," Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told CNN.

The White House knows how deeply unpopular high gas prices are. That's why Biden took sweeping action in November to intervene. The administration announced the largest-ever release of emergency crude reserves from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in US history.

The return of $85 oil will pile pressure on Biden to act once again — and the administration is signaling further action is on the table.