An artical by Charles Krauthammer, no joy on snopes.

[VonVulcan]

The great pipeline sellout By Charles Krauthammer, Published: November 17


In 2008, the slogan was "Yes We Can." For 2011-12, it's "We Can't Wait." What happened in between? Candidate Obama, the vessel into which myriad dreams were poured, met the reality of governance.


His near-$1 trillion stimulus begat a stagnant economy with 9 percent unemployment. His attempt at Wall Street reform left in place a still-too-big-to-fail financial system, as vulnerable today as when he came into office. His green-energy fantasies yielded Solyndra cronyism and a cap-and-trade regime not even a Democratic Congress would pass.


And now his signature achievement, Obamacare, is headed to the Supreme Court, where it could very well be struck down. This comes just a week after its central element was overwhelmingly repudiated (by a 2-to-1 margin) by the good burghers of Ohio.


So what do you do when you say you can, but, it turns out, you can't? Blame the other guy. Charge the Republicans with making governing impossible. Never mind that you had control of Congress for two-thirds of your current tenure. It's all the fault of Republican rejectionism.


Hence: "We Can't Wait." We can't wait while they obstruct. We can't wait while they dither with my jobs bill. Write Congress today! Vote Democratic tomorrow!


We can't wait. Except for certain exceptions, such as the 1,700-mile trans-USA Keystone XL pipeline, carrying Alberta oil to Texas refineries, that would have created thousands of American jobs and increased our energy independence.


For that, we can wait, it seems. President Obama decreed that any decision must wait 12 to 18 months - postponed, by amazing coincidence, until after next year's election.


Why? Because the pipeline angered Obama's environmental constituency. But their complaints are risible. Global warming from the extraction of the Alberta tar sands? Canada will extract the oil anyway. If it doesn't go to us, it will go to China. Net effect on the climate if we don't take that oil? Zero.


Danger to a major aquifer, which the pipeline traverses? It is already crisscrossed by 25,000 miles of pipeline, enough to circle the Earth. Moreover, the State Department had subjected Keystone to three years of review - the most exhaustive study of any oil pipeline in U.S. history - and twice concluded in voluminous studies that there would be no significant environmental harm.


So what happened? "The administration," reported the New York Times, "had in recent days been exploring ways to put off the decision until after the presidential election." Exploring ways to improve the project? Hardly. Exploring ways to get past the election.


Obama's decision was meant to appease his environmentalists. It's already working. The president of the National Wildlife Federation told The Post (online edition, Nov. 10) that thousands of environmentalists who were galvanized to protest the pipeline would now support Obama in 2012. Moreover, a source told The Post, Obama campaign officials had concluded that "they do not pick up one vote from approving this project."


Sure, the pipeline would have produced thousands of truly shovel-ready jobs. Sure, delay could forfeit to China a supremely important strategic asset - a nearby, highly reliable source of energy. But approval was calculated to be a political loss for the president. Easy choice.


It's hard to think of a more clear-cut case of putting politics over nation. This from a president whose central campaign theme is that Republicans put party over nation, sacrificing country to crass political ends.


Nor is this the first time Obama's election calendar trumped the national interest:


? Obama's decision to wind down the Afghan surge in September 2012 is militarily inexplicable. It comes during the fighting season. It was recommended by none of his military commanders. It is explicable only as a talking point for the final days of his reelection campaign.


? At the height of the debt-ceiling debate last July, Obama pledged to veto any agreement that was not long-term. Definition of long term? By another amazing coincidence, any deal large enough to get him past Election Day (and thus avoid another such crisis next year).


?On Tuesday it was revealed that last year the administration pressured Solyndra, as it was failing, to delay its planned Oct. 28 announcement of layoffs until Nov. 3, the day after the midterm election.


A contemporaneous e-mail from a Solyndra investor noted: "Oddly they didn't give a reason for that date." The writer was obviously born yesterday. The American electorate was not - and it soon gets to decide who really puts party over nation and reelection above all.


We can't wait.


letters@charleskrauthammer.com

[flip]

Obama can't be blamed, he is just way out of his league. That's the problem when your not self-made.

[woodchip]

Obama is focused like a laser on jobs and economy. So he said numerous times. Obama also said that you can go ahead with investing in dirty energy but He would see to it that it was so expensive to do you'd go bankrupt. 2012 elections can't come fast enough.

[flip]

We are being annihilated economically. A literal translation is "to make into nothing".

[Tunnelcat]

I think Obama is smarter than we think. He's made sure that Republicans look like the bad guys for that epic failure of the supercommittee. Now that 1.2 trillion in mandatory spending cuts will be kicking in, several prominent Republicans, especially McCain, are already scrambling to try and reverse or circumvent those required defense spending cuts. Obama has said he's going to veto any tries at it. It's time to take their medicine.

[flip]

3 cheers to Obama for knowing how to stalemate and rip ★■◆● apart all the while watching the house crumble.

[Top Gun]

'scuse me? Obama's not the one who's utterly refusing to let historically-low tax cuts that were ill-advised in the first place expire for the wealthiest 1% of the population. I find it telling in this whole budget debate that one side is pushing for a combination of spending cuts and reasonable tax increases to help slice the deficit...and the other side only wants one and plays the "lalala I'm not listening" game with the other. That's a true stalemate. Honestly, if the Congressional Republicans were fellating their corporate masters any harder...well, I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

[flip]

I don't disagree, I just couldn't let it sound like a good thing =/.

[Top Gun]

Well no, it's not a good thing either way. And I'm certainly not suggesting that the Democrats aren't in corporate beds in many areas...hell, a few of the primary sponsors of the odious PROTECT-IP legislation are Dems. But in this particular case, I can't see how the Republican Party can stand there with a straight face and completely reject even the idea of using one of the two main tools for fighting a deficit. It's sheer lunacy.

[flip]

It's not lunacy though. They are all globalists balancing a precarious shift of power. Well, once we started down that path there was no turning back, so it's the only logical direction now. Certain things must happen though to attain that as gently as possible, and the rest of the world would not accept the USA as the predominant head. I just hope that in the process of balancing, the bottom doesn't fall out. Be assured though, we are on the threshold of some bold announcements.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE793Q0MbiY

[Tunnelcat]

3 cheers to Obama for knowing how to stalemate and rip **** apart all the while watching the house crumble.

I'm not saying it's a good thing. At least Obama is fighting now. It takes 2 to tango, and the Republicans have stuck to their Grover Norquist pledge of no more taxes to the point that it shows they don't give a damn if the economy tanks. To them, all's fair in love and war without regard for collateral damage when their goal is to destroy Obama, not fix the economy.

Now we get to watch them whine, finagle and cajole as their pet defense and spending projects get the required axe.

[flip]

They must not care too much for those projects, otherwise they wouldn't have agreed to the initial deal.

[Tunnelcat]

We'll see how much wheeling and dealing comes out of all this. Someone has to blink.