Before Choosing Political Payback Over Keystone Jobs, Obama Said it Best: “Obviously This Year is an Election Year”

January 18, 2012

Democrats Once Again Choose Political Payback for Washington Friends Over Real, Immediate Job Creation

Despite pleas from workers seeking jobs and even his own Jobs Council which called for increasing domestic energy production, President Obama announced Wednesday that he will sabotage the broadly supported Keystone XL project that would increase American energy and create jobs.
This is just the latest example of Democrats choosing Washington political payback over workers seeking jobs. As President Obama confessed to his Jobs Council, “obviously this year is an election year” and the American people shouldn’t expect much better from him given the Washington friends he must keep happy in pursuing his own re-election.
Sadly, the cost of the Democrats’ political payback is tens of thousands of jobs. The American people lack confidence in the economic leadership of President Obama and the Democrats, but apparently Democrats don’t care enough to try to change their mind.

Despite pleas from workers seeking jobs and even his own Jobs Council which called for increasing domestic energy production, President Obama announced Wednesday that he will sabotage the broadly supported Keystone XL project that would increase American energy and create jobs:

“OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO REJECT KEYSTONE XL”: (Darren Goode, “Obama Administration to Reject Keystone XL,” Politico, 1/18/2012)

IN ONE EAR AND OUT THE OTHER? REJECTION COMES AFTER OBAMA’S JOBS COUNCIL PLEADS FOR MORE AMERICAN ENERGY PROJECTS: “‘[W]e should allow more access to oil, natural gas and coal opportunities on federal lands,’ states the year-end report released Tuesday by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness…

“‘The Council recognizes the important safety and environmental concerns surrounding these types of projects, but now more than ever, the jobs and economic and energy security benefits of these energy projects require us to tackle the issues head-on and to expeditiously, though cautiously, move forward on projects that can support hundreds of thousands of jobs,’ the report says…

“‘[R]egulatory and permitting obstacles that could threaten the development of some energy projects negatively impact jobs and weaken our energy infrastructure need to be addressed,’ the report says.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Obama’s jobs council report says ‘Drill,'” The Hill‘s E² Wire Blog, 1/17/2012)

This is just the latest example of Democrats choosing Washington political payback over workers seeking jobs. As President Obama confessed to his Jobs Council, “obviously this year is an election year” and the American people shouldn’t expect much better from him given the Washington friends he must keep happy in pursuing his own re-election:

OBAMA YESTERDAY WARNED HIS JOBS COUNCIL ON ITS RECOMMENDATIONS: “OBVIOUSLY THIS YEAR IS AN ELECTION YEAR”: (“Obama Tells His Jobs Council He Will ‘Push as Hard as Possible’ But ‘Obviously this Year is an Election Year,'” Real Clear Politics, 1/18/2012)

A PATTERN OF POLITICAL PAYBACK:

OBAMA GAVE “EMBATTLED” EPA A HUG WHILE GIVING WORKERS THE COLD SHOULDER: “On a day when Republican presidential candidates stumped for votes in New Hampshire, President Obama paid a visit Tuesday afternoon to the employees of the embattled Environmental Protection Agency, which has been the target of GOP disdain.” (David Nakamura, “Obama Gives Embattled EPA a Pep Talk,” The Washington Post, 1/10/2012)

HOW IS EPA “EMBATTLED” WHEN OBAMA LETS EPA BUREAUCRATS HAVE THE REGULATIONS THEY WANT, DESTROYING 183,000 JOBS A YEAR, 1.65 MILLION JOBS DESTROYED THROUGH 2020?: (“EPA Finalizes New Rule That Will Hurt American Economy,” American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, 12/21/2011)

LIKE CLOCKWORK: DEMOCRATS’ GREEN BASE REJOICES OVER EPA’S JOB-DESTROYING DECISION: “Environmentalists rallied so hard for the Obama administration on Wednesday, you’d think power plants were shooting cotton candy from their smokestacks.” (Erica Martinson, “EPA Power Plant Rule Has Greens Pro-Obama,” Politico, 12/22/2011)

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF BILL DALEY, BROUGHT ON TO MEND FENCES WITH JOB CREATORS, RECENTLY ANNOUNCED HIS RESIGNATION: (Christi Parsons, “William Daley to Step Down as Obama’s Chief of Staff,” Los Angeles Times, 1/9/2012)

GREENS REJOICE, “SAY ‘GOOD RIDDANCE’ TO DALEY”: “Bill Daley left plenty of fingerprints on energy policy during his yearlong stint in the White House, but environmentalists will remember him most for undercutting EPA’s attempts to set tough new air pollution limits.

“The outgoing White House chief of staff, who announced his departure Monday, is seen as the person to blame for successfully urging President Barack Obama last summer to halt the ozone standards.

“Daley’s views became clear, greens say, during an August meeting with the American Lung Association and other public health officials. There, Obama’s top West Wing aide doubted the quality of their polling data and cited industry concerns about job losses connected to a tougher EPA rule.” (Darren Samuelsohn, “Greens Say ‘Good Riddance’ to Daley,” Politico, 1/9/2012)

OBAMA SABOTAGED KEYSTONE PROJECT AGAIN FOR POLITICAL REASONS:“And he might ruin that by killing the pipeline to please his rich green supporters who think you can power a modern economy with windmills, solar cells and switchgrass. But at least now he’ll have to decide before the election, and if Mr. Obama kills the pipeline he might doom a Democratic Senator or two.” (Editorial, “A Payroll Tax Deal,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/23/2011)

GREEN GROUPS THREATENED TO ABANDON OBAMA IF HE APPROVED KEYSTONE: “Environmental groups have been protesting the pipeline that would run from Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries, and there have been rumblings that greens would abandon Obama next fall if he approved it.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

OBAMA’S “GREEN” PROGRAM THAT FUNDED NOW-BANKRUPT SOLYNDRA “INFUSED WITH POLITICS AT EVERY LEVEL”: “Meant to create jobs and cut reliance on foreign oil, Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every level, The Washington Post found in an analysis of thousands of memos, company records and internal e-mails. Political considerations were raised repeatedly by company investors, Energy Department bureaucrats and White House officials.

“The records, some previously unreported, show that when warned that financial disaster might lie ahead, the administration remained steadfast in its support for Solyndra.” (Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, “Solyndra: Politics Infused Obama Energy Programs,” The Washington Post, 12/25/2011)

Sadly, the cost of the Democrats’ political payback is tens of thousands of jobs. The American people lack confidence in the economic leadership of President Obama and the Democrats, but apparently Democrats don’t care enough to try to change their mind:

KEYSTONE PROJECT PROJECTED TO CREATE MORE THAN 20,000 “SHOVEL-READY” JOBS: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011)

PROJECT HAS BROAD SUPPORT FROM UNIONS: “The pipeline has the support of many Republicans in Congress and also major labor unions like the Teamsters, Laborers’ International Union of North America and segments of the AFL-CIO.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT: UP TO 130,000 JOBS: “Many of those 20,000 jobs on the construction of the pipeline would have been filled by skilled union members. Eventually, the completed pipeline was expected to result in as many as 130,000 jobs, many of them on the upper Texas Coast, where the heavy oil would be refined into 700,000 barrels of oil daily.” (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011)

FMR. TOP WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIST AUSTAN GOOLSBEE: KEYSTONE OPPONENTS “NAÏVE”: (Sean Pasternak, “Goolsbee Says U.S. Opponents of TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline are Naive,” Bloomberg, 11/28/2011)

MORE GOOLSBEE: CANADIAN TAR SANDS WILL BE DEVELOPED WHETHER AMERICA GETS INVOLVED OR NOT: ” ‘It’s a bit naïve to think the tar sands would not be developed if they don’t build that pipeline,’ said Goolsbee, speaking today in Toronto at the Economic Club of Canada. ‘Eventually, it’s going to be built. It may go to the Pacific, it may go through Nebraska, but it’s going to be built somewhere.'”(Sean Pasternak, “Goolsbee Says U.S. Opponents of TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline are Naive,” Bloomberg, 11/28/2011)

AMERICANS DON’T TRUST OBAMA TO GROW THE ECONOMY AND CREATE JOBS:

WASHINGTON POST POLL: 52% SAY OBAMA HAS ACCOMPLISHED “NOT MUCH” OR “LITTLE OR NOTHING”: “Slightly more than half the respondents — 52 percent — say Obama has accomplished “not much” or “little or nothing” as president, while 47 percent offer a positive assessment of his record. Those findings are identical to public attitudes two years ago.” (Jon Cohen and Dan Balz, “Electorate is Sharply Split Over Obama, Poll Finds,” The Washington Post, 1/18/2012)

JUST 9% SEE STRONG RECOVERY COMING, AND BY 2:1, AMERICANS SAY THEY ARE “WORSE OFF FINANCIALLY SINCE OBAMA BECAME PRESIDENT”: “In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 9 percent of Americans see a strong economic recovery — a number that has hardly budged in more than two years. Twice as many say they are worse off financially since Obama became president than say their situations have improved.” (Jon Cohen and Dan Balz, “Electorate is Sharply Split Over Obama, Poll Finds,” The Washington Post, 1/18/2012)