Jim McTague of Barron’s explains this week one reason why President Obama is having an especially hard time coping with rising gas prices.

If you claim to be Superman, then when the time comes, you had better be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

President Obama habitually made the superhero boast, especially in regard to his energy policies. Consequently, now that pump prices have topped $4 in many parts of the country, he finds himself tangled in his cape, with his approval ratings several points below the crucial 50% deemed necessary for re-election. This is a campaign crisis for the president, which is why he is focusing so much of his time on it, including two solid days last week.

Obama’s mistake was to advertise himself as a hi-tech guru with the added, superhuman ability to manipulate market forces to create a green-energy utopia where batteries, algae and solar cells would replace climate unfriendly fossil fuels like coal and gasoline. His lengthy litany of powers included the ability to raise the cost of these dirty fuels to reduce their pricing advantage over renewable energy. He harped that this was desirable and necessary.

The political imprinting worked better than our president ever imagined. Now that gasoline prices are pinching pocketbooks, the public expects Obama to exercise his superpowers and manipulate prices lower. Protestations by Obama that market forces beyond his control are setting the prices are greeted with disdain rather than sympathy.