The rising cost of gasoline could jeopardize President Barack Obama's re-election chances, even as he spent the day in Oklahoma and Ohio touting his energy policy.

Obama appears to be re-thinking parts of the Keystone pipeline his administration was quick to reject just months ago.

President Obama is in big trouble on the energy issue. A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows 65 percent of Americans disapprove of how he's handled gas prices, which have doubled during his administration.

Analysts say prices could rise above $5 a gallon in most of the country by summer.

The president made a stop in the Oklahoma oil town of Cushing, where his decision to stop the Keystone pipeline has the local residents furious.

The Republican presidential candidates have been using the denial of the Keystone project to beat Obama over the head.

"There's a huge difference where I am on energy, so no future American president will bow to a Saudi king," Obama said.

In Cushing, Obama was sounding like he loves oil and oil drilling.

"Under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. And we've added enough new oil and gas pipeline to circle the earth and then some. So we are drilling all over the place," Obama told the crowd.

The president announced he has directed federal agencies to expedite a 485-mile line from Oklahoma to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast that would remove a critical bottleneck in the country's oil transportation system.

Republicans called the move a publicity stunt, arguing that it wouldn't help Canadian company Transcanada build the pipeline any sooner.

The president's problem is he needs low gasoline prices to get re-elected. But he can't lower gas prices without alienating the far left environmental wing of the Democrat Party, which includes wealthy friends and donors in Hollywood.