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Cynical as it may appear (and undoubtedly is), you can see why President Barack Obama’s decision to embrace the southern leg of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline project – suddenly announcing on Thursday that he would fast-track approvals – sounded like a great idea within the White House.
You can also understand why his environmental “supporters” are spitting bullets. (I put “supporters” in quotes because environmentalists, like unions, only support you as long as you do exactly what they want.) And why they’re being joined by their arch-rivals in Big Oil.
In a way, it’s a great bit of politics. You have to admire the architecture, even if you don’t like the result (which almost no one appears to). It gives Mr. Obama a comeback for accusations hurled at him from all the various camps. And it traps the critics in their own positions.
The background goes like this: TransCanada Corp. wants to build a pipeline from the oil sands in Alberta that will carry crude to the Gulf Coast.
There are lots of good reasons to build it: The U.S. needs both the oil and the construction jobs. It will help relieve a glut of oil that collects in the Midwest junction of Cushing, Okla. It will lessen U.S. dependence on suppliers in volatile areas of the Middle East and Africa. It will increase security of supply. It will let Mr. Obama argue he’s not an enemy of Big Oil. It will let him lay claim to an active effort to create jobs.
Unfortunately for him, Mr. Obama gets caught in a bit of political gamesmanship. Republicans hoping to embarrass him start pushing for a quick approval on construction.
Environmentalists hoping to block the whole pipeline push back. Down in the polls and facing an election, the President has to choose. Naturally he picks the greens, because he needs them to work on his behalf in the election. Big Oil isn’t going to do that no matter what he decides. Republicans immediately start accusing him of sacrificing jobs to placate airyfairy tree-huggers.
But here’s what happens next: The economy starts to improve slightly. Joblessness decreases. The campaign to choose a Republican candidate is a mess, and Mr. Obama’s poll numbers start to rise again. It looks like he might win after all. The one lingering problem is the economy: He has to appear committed to doing everything necessary to encourage job creation.
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