Keystone XL: Voting "Present"

When the brief history of the Obama administration is written - perhaps as part of a Zakharia "Decline of America" sequel - there will be chapters on corruption (Solyndra; Siga's small pox boondoggle; Congressional insider trading), flailing (stimulus plan), and incompetence (Fast and Furious; "leading from behind"; true Wall Street reform), but the essence of his administration will be captured in the mismanagement of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Consider:

- The 1700 mile pipeline to bring almost 1 million barrels of oil a day from northern Alberta to the refineries of the Gulf Coast has been in development since 2008. In August the EPA's second evaluation determined that it would have "no significant impact" on the environment if agreed procedures were followed.

- We have some 300,000 miles of natural gas pipelines and 168,000 miles of oil pipelines criss crossing the nation. We couldn't fill up a car's tank or heat a house without them. We know how to do this. The science is clear that there is no real risk, but it is easy to rile up NIMBY sentiment and who can trust science anyway? (Oh excuse me, it is the conservatives who are anti-science.) Whatever, the pipeline owner has agreed to reroute the pipeline around the Ogallala aquifer - no matter, no decision will be made until after the election and the 10,000 jobs can wait another year.

- The NYT argument that we don't need the oil anyway ignores the fact that we import 10 million barrels a day by tanker from places like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. When we consider sanctions on Iran, they consider blockading the Persian Gulf.

- The real objective of the environmentalists? This is a crude way to attack the Alberta tar sands operations which use a significant amount of water and leave pools which cannot be fully remediated. As good citizens of Al Gore's planet, we cannot be bound by national borders and defer to the crass commercialism of the Canadians.

- And here's where environmentalist self-satisfaction loses to economic reality - there will be a pipeline to British Columbia to feed tankers bound for China, we will have damaged our Canadian relationship, we will import our 10 million barrels a day from despots, and the Chinese won't really much care about the scenery in Alberta.

For those who wonder whether the Al Gore crowd understands the economic trade-offs, a look at California is instructive. Californians (by ballot initiative as well as legislation) choose high electric rates over nuclear power, no risk of off-shore drilling over state revenues and lower gasoline costs, protection of fish over water for farmers and cities, and claim to the world's tightest air emission controls and high taxes at the expense of a bottom ranking for business friendliness. In each case there is debate about the numbers, but California's choice is clear. To the true believers the problem is that we have too many people. And as for the pipeline - we use too much oil.

And for the 2012 election, this is vintage Obama. He is caught between a core constituency on the Left and a crystal clear chance to create good jobs, lower energy costs, and support the relationship with our closest ally. And he does what has worked for him for his entire career - he votes "Present". Just maybe the American people are not as stupid as his Illinois constituents - at least not the second time around.

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This week's bonus is a fascinating extended radio interview with Jon Huntsman. His "rich kid" persona has not worked in the mass debate format, but he does have strong credentials as a conservative governor, a diplomat, and a smart guy - as well as an understanding of business. Cain and Perry supporters should pay attention before jumping to Newt.

bill bowen - 11/18/11

Comments

[Bill McCormick]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING----to all of Bill Bowen's readers. Let's hope our leaders can find a way to come together and compromise for the good of America in the months ahead. With all the problems of the world today the least should be the ability of Americans to come together and solve our problems.

[Bill McCormick]

LAST NIGHT--ok last night's debates showed clearly that any Republican candidate has a far better understanding of foreign policy issues than Obama had when he entered office. Cain is clearly the least current as one would expect given the others backgrounds. Paul is up on the issues but has a view similar to Obama's original view. Obama wanted to befriend our enemies and Paul wants to ignore them. Neither works in my view. Gingrich made a move toward a more moderate view of immgration solutions which may hurt him short term but may help keep him closer to Romney long term as anyone trying to win the general election needs to appeal to moderate independents and Republicans. Even Perry performed better. Blitzer did his best to keep Paul and Huntsman front and center either to make a fight out of it (honest approach) or to highlight the weaker Republican candidates over the leaders (dishonest approach). In the end they all handled the situation well and defended their views. It appears that Obama is in for a long campaign trail. He is very short on positives in the economy, avoiding discussions on healthcare and these people will all stand toe to toe with him on foreign affairs and pound away at Israel,Pakistan, Iran and immigration. Yesterday the Justice department sued Utah over their tough immigration policy that requires criminals to prove their citizenship. The US has now sued Arizona, Alabama and Utah over immigration. No matter how hard Obama tries to convince the American people that it is the Republican House that is holding back the economy it will only open up his underbelly for a discussion of his leadership qualitiies. A discussion he is likely to lose long term.

[Diamond Core Drill]

The information given along with the comments was thoughtful..It is worth reading..I am getting to hear many news about "tea party"..

[DickG]

Thanks 'iPad'; Our President was allowed to vote 'PRESENT' from Australia this time. I'm sure the trip landed many 'jobs'. The Indonesians must have been just thrilled at the thought of engageing some "LAZY AMERICANS". As an added Bonus , the Aussies get a probably unsolicited Brigade of Troops from us. If they're Regulars; it's not a good fiscal policy at present. If they are Sp Ops people; he shouldn't be mentioning them.

[Bill McCormick]

LINCOLN--
when confronted with 5 years of Congressional stalling on a great issue: Slavery, Lincoln addressed them and uttered the words: "a House Divided against itself cannot stand." This morning Senator Kyle indicatied that later this afternoon the super committe will likely once again throw the nation into a great argument over which half of our house divided is wrong--just as we were divided over the debt ceiling. They still have 6 hours or so to argee on something and perhaps they will but party politics has reached a point in this country where "we the people" are last. It is becomong more and more clear that it should not be the have's and the have nots who are to be politically exploited but rather the politicians and the people are where the playing field needs to be leveled. Politicians have protections, benefits and priveledges that ordinary people do not. And, while Lincoln was among the best of the politicians he chose to act and save the Union from itself when the Union was so divided that we went to war with each other--even brother on brother. Surely, this President could return home and provide some leadership. But then if he knew what leadership and bipartisan approaches were he would have done it long ago-- I suspect. Look at his record on this issue: no budget in 3 years. No acceptance of Simpson Boles. Walked away from $800B in tax revenues offerred by Boehner. And, no involvement in the Super Committee negotiations. The "I" man is exactly that: the "I" man. Sad.

[Bill McCormick]

BEAUTIFUL-----

Well done, Bill, and right on. Pretty much sums up the incredible uncaring of the Obama administration's real feelings about jobs. The energy issues are key to his strategy--not jobs and that is why he is so antibusiness and is having an impossible time creating jobs for middle class America. Senator Reid (former head of the Senate Energy Committee) knows exactly what America needs: natural gas and domestic oil production. The jobs, the change in the balance of payments and the security advantages of home produced clean fossil fuels are finally becoming widely understood. But, Obama (and Gore) has managed to keep Ameircans believing that if we only enmbrance alternative energies somehow the fuels will not be burned and a huge number of high paying jobs will materialize. The Keystone XL pipeline and the resultant change in cash in America rather than out will create jobs instantly. As would a move to build a national natural gas distribution system. We are misled however when we think that Obama represents the middle class. You see he really represents the less fortunate, the uneducated --the people he needs to level the playing field for. That's why he can afford to ignore 16% real unemployment. The people he represents unfortunatley are always unemployed, on welfare, or living off the underground economy and therefore they are used to being in that state and he will never lose their votes. So stonewalling the solutions until he can get his way doesn't matter to them. They want the wealth shared. His battle is noble but dishonest. Dishonest because he ignores small business in favor of union companies. He ignores opportunity to create jobs because higher energy prices make his alternative energy look more competative. It's dishonest because he uses his ample intelligence and his persuasiveness to lure along the independents and the elite leftists as if he will solve our problems as well. Unfortunately, the Europeans and the Russians have tried similar approaches. Then the Japanese failed at it and now the Chinese with their government controlled economy are the darlings of the world exploiting people who make $1 a day. As for Huntsman--nice try.

[DickG]

'TEA PARTY' TOO IN FAVOR OF KEYSTONE:If there is anything that terrifies the Presidnt, it's the 'Tea Party' showing up with anything rational. Thursday the 17th Nov,the Tea Party was 'blocked' by Harry Reid and Schumer from a scheduled 'Budget Presentation' in a Senate Meeting Room. The Bi-PARTISAN Budget proposal was way too popular and effective. Unfortunately, it did include an 'ALL IN' Energy policy citing Keystone's Domestic Oil; which may have been the proverbial 'STRAW'. Watch the media on this one. This was a direct assault on the Constitution . This should not 'STAND'. (Rand Paul and other Senators had to rescue them and the meeting was held at a private location.)