Obama puts himself first again

Today's news that president Obama is going to delay the decision regarding construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is another action by Obama where he puts his re-election ahead of what is good for the country. The Keystone pipeline, of course, is a $7 billion project that will bring oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf coast. Construction of the pipeline will result in the creation of up to 100,000 jobs. The oil that the pipeline transports will reduce the amount of oil coming to America from the Middle East. The work to refine the oil will also create a great many permanent jobs in Texas, Louisiana and other states. In short, the project is a big win for economic growth and the lessening of the terrible unemployment that the country faces.

So what is the problem? Simply put, the most strident part of the environmental movement does not want to do anything that will promote the use of gasoline or lower the cost of fuel in the USA. These folks want to switch to "green" energy even though such a switch is just not possible at the moment. Solar and wind energy are not yet reliable enough and they are too costly to compete with even the current high price of gasoline. The environmentalists have used the excuse that they want to protect various underground acquifers in the event that the pipeline were to burst.

Of course, the USA is crisscrossed with many oil and gas pipelines. Probably the most well known is the pipeline across Alaska, but there are thousands of others. In the last 50 years, there have not been any instances of major contamination of acquifers due to oil or gas leaks.

Still, the environmentalists feel strongly about their position although they are clearly wrong. If Obama and the Obamacrats accept the environmentalists position, then Obama should block the pipeline. If Obama cares at all about job growth and economic progress for America, then he should approve the pipeline.

Obama, of course, has decided to do neither. Instead, he has postponed the decision until after his re-election bid is decided. The 100,000 or more folks waiting for work on the pipeline will just have to wait for at least another year longer. The progress in reducing oil imports from hostile countries -- well, that will have to wait too. The reason is that Obama does not want to anger either side; he does not want to lose the support from construction unions nor from environmentalists.

The truth is that Obama is an egotist who cannot bring himself to do his job if it might hurt him in any way. Even thought he president is supposed to make decisions, Obama just will not do so if there is any chance that it will cost him any votes. Obama does not deserve to be president.

Were Obama to have blocked construction of the pipeline and sided with the environmentalists, I would have been annoyed with the decision, but at least in that case he would be doing his job. Instead, America is supposed to just stop until after the election.

Obama has got to go!