President Barack Obama recently made the absurd decision to halt development of the so-called “Keystone XL” oil pipeline, to the detriment of American jobs, energy security and rational, common sense.
The pipeline, if constructed, would make great strides in our nation’s policy on energy security. It would add, by some estimates, up to 20,000 jobs for citizens who are out of work and victims of the shoddy economic recovery.
The only environmental issue raised by the pipeline is an aquifer in Kansas, and all parties involved reached an agreement to divert the lines far around the aquifer. If the president refuses to deal on behalf of America, TransCanada may well broker a deal with China or another nation. Why would our elected leader seek to send our prosperity overseas?
Desperate to cling to power by shoring up his fractured leftist coalition, Obama vetoed the proposed Keystone oil line, which would run from Canada to the Gulf Coast.
In a blatantly partisan decision, the president dealt a deft blow to bipartisan supporters of the measure, including many conservatives and union members, who supported the project due to its inherent value of providing jobs to American workers. His maneuver is as an attempt to showcase a green-leaning heart to his environmental base, critical to his victory in swing states in this crucial election year.
However, Obama should have set aside petty partisan squabbles and acted on behalf of the nation’s interests as a whole; he was not elected in 2008 to pit groups of citizens against each other, but to govern in the best interest of the whole nation.
Nearly $2 billion has been spent on the pipeline already to comply with painfully long and complicated regulations governing oil and natural gas extraction. The corporation which owns the pipeline, TransCanada, has bent over backwards to comply with the federal rules, and the Obama administration has denied the chance to make America competitive and business-friendly.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper even called our leader to express his “profound disappointment.”
It is a matter of national embarrassment when a foreign leader excoriates and makes our Commander-in-Chief look rightly foolish.
We deserve better. I’m truly baffled by the fact that a sitting American president would veto a plan which would to generate thousands of new jobs in a recession-crippled, economically feeble country. The only explanation is that he is a partisan political hack. If Obama claims to support any notion of “American energy,” “energy security” or “an ‘all of the above’ energy plan,” he absolutely must support the Keystone XL project.
For all of my criticism and decrying of our president, I sincerely wish he would work with his rational Republican opposition and work to arrange a deal for the crucial and much-needed pipeline. Do it for jobs. Do it for energy policy and security. Do it for common sense and reason.
Mr. President, I urge you to do it for the state of our union. If you refuse to work with your political rivals, I hope this issue becomes central to the 2012 campaign so voters can see your self-interest exposed.
