The dirty secret in Washington is that while Obama (rightly) blamed Republicans for holding positions to the right of the American electorate, the president is pursuing policies that are equally as far to the left.
Approving construction of the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline may not be the most consequential legislation, but it is symbolic of the lengths the administration has gone to avoid a postelection bipartisan accomplishment. Embattled Sen. Mary Landrieu, on the ballot next month in a Louisiana Senate runoff, has been furiously lobbying colleagues to approve the pipeline, and won support from 14 Democrats in an unsuccessful vote Tuesday. A new USA Today poll of adults, conducted last week, found strong support for it—60 percent backing construction of the Keystone pipeline, with only 25 percent opposed. This month, the Pew Research Center found even 44 percent of Democrats supporting it, with 46 percent opposed. When Republicans take control of the Senate in January, it’s expected to pass with at least 63 votes.
A president looking to change the tone in Washington would be well-served to find common ground on an issue that members of both parties agree on. But instead, he dismissed its job-creating benefits and left his spokesman, Josh Earnest, to hint at a veto last week. The project has now been delayed for six years. Given that energy issues played a consequential role in Senate contests from Colorado to Kentucky—and are dooming the prospects of an otherwise-reliable ally in Landrieu—the administration’s stubbornness on the issue is baffling. If it’s only a symbolic issue, why not use it to build some confidence-building capital with Republicans on other more significant goals?
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