Well, Barack Obama has done it again. For the umpteenth time, he’s decided that he just can’t bring himself to okaying the Keystone XL Pipeline. It brings to mind the words of Saturday Night Live’s Dana Carvey, when impersonating and spoofing George H. W. Bush, “wouldn’t be prudent.” Obama didn’t actually use those words, but it amounted to the same thing.
Even normally reliable allies of the Obama Administration, like labor leaders, were apoplectic. For example, the president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Terry O’Sullivan, stated, “Once again, the Administration is making a political calculation instead of doing what is right for the country.”
And what is that political calculation? That they need the energetic support of the activist environmental community in the upcoming midterm elections, just as Obama himself needed that support in the last presidential campaign. This slavish devotion to these environmental radicals has delayed the approval of the critically needed Keystone Pipeline for five years now. And there’s no end in sight.
It’s a real travesty for the country too, when you consider that there are tens of thousands of good paying jobs that are being sacrificed on the green agenda alter. That’s why so many union leaders, usually reliable Democrat supporters, oppose Obama on his position. Some of those jobs would be right here in our area, as Siemens in Norwood is slated to manufacture the motors which will push the shale oil through the pipeline from Canada to the Gulf region where it will be refined.
Even Democrat Senators, albeit ones who are vulnerable and up for re-election this fall, have been vocally critical of Obama on his latest Keystone obstruction. Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu denounced Obama’s latest delay as “irresponsible, unnecessary, and unacceptable.” Alaska’s Mark Begich railed that “I am frankly appalled at the continued foot-dragging by this Administration on the Keystone project.” And Arkansas’ Mark Pryor chided the Administration saying “there’s no excuse for another delay.” All three senators are right. (But their distancing themselves on this issue still probably won’t save them this November.)
It’s interesting to note that Obama’s latest decision to delay, yet again, the Keystone Pipeline, was released to the press late on a Friday. That’s traditionally when an Administration dumps news they’d like to bury. And not only was it dumped on a Friday, but it was on Good Friday, at the beginning of a major holiday weekend. Plus, with what’s going on in Ukraine, and all the attention on the still-missing Malaysian plane, it really didn’t get the media coverage it deserved. Hopefully, this blog post will assure that most of America will get the word. Right.
Hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter. God bless America.
