COMMENTARY | It took real talent to, at a stroke of a pen, eschew 20,000 shovel-ready jobs, reject a ready supply of petroleum, alienate an important Democratic constituency, and insult an important American ally. But President Barack Obama managed it.
The White House likely thinks that in rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, it has secured campaign cash from the environmental lobby. By hinting that the pipeline can still be built in the undetermined future on a yet to be decided alternate route it has appeased the trade unions and mollified the Canadians. It even thinks that it can deflect some of the political damage by blaming the Republicans, as the administration did according to the National Journal.
The White House is wrong on all counts.
Politico reports that the opening shot that the House Republicans will fire will consist of requiring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose State Department is said to have advised rejection of the pipeline, to testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee. Speaker John Boehner has stated that all legislative options are open. This means that provisions requiring the approval of the pipeline will be attached to a slew of must pass bills. The Democratic Senate will be dared to reject them and Obama dared to veto them.
The rejection of the pipeline is going to be a feature of the presidential campaign from now on. According to the CBS News, both Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have already slammed the decision to universal agreement down in South Carolina.
Canada, according to Bloomberg, is already mulling over the idea whether China might be a better customer for its Alberta oil sands petroleum.
One can only imagine what could come next. If tensions in the Middle East, especially surrounding the Iranian threats to close the Straits of Hormuz, cause a spike in the price of oil, Obama will be seen the author of a boost in gas prices just in time for the summer driving season. There are few things that causes more fury in the American voter than skyrocketing gas prices, especially when it can be demonstrated that they are caused by government decisions that are, in the words of Gingrich, profoundly stupid.
One cannot but wonder what Obama was thinking when he made this decision. Whatever the thought processes were, they have led his political future to the brink of ruin.
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