I’ll admit it. I haven’t watched the hit series House of Cards, although my staff tells me it’s very intriguing. But I get the gist.
Politician Frank Underwood, a sinister operator, will stop at nothing to consolidate power. His yes man, Doug Stamper, serves as his liaison, doles out favors to those with whom he agrees and puts out fires that threaten their ascension. Together, they manipulate groups of people against each other in an attempt to win a zero sum game.
It sounds like a great plot. But I don’t think I’ve missed much because it seems this is playing out in real time inside the real Washington.
In December, President Barack Obama named environmental activist, former lobbyist and Keystone XL pipeline opponent John Podesta as his chief political consigliore. Podesta has been unequivocal in his views on the Keystone XL Pipeline, saying that Republican efforts to pass this important jobs and infrastructure project are a horrible error.
Two years ago, Podesta penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal with billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer.
“There are critical environmental questions associated with developing [oil sands] resources, particularly concerning methane leakage and water pollution,” they wrote.
I suppose it would be fair to say that two years ago, those concerns might have been valid; but, those fears should have been alleviated with the final environmental impact report by the State Department that said there would be no significant impact on carbon pollution if the Keystone XL Pipeline were built. Rather, the final State Department report said just the opposite — not building the Keystone would increase greenhouse gas emissions by 28-42 percent.
The State Department’s final report also says Keystone will create 42,000 direct and indirect jobs and provide a $3.1 billion economic boost during construction. There are significant tax revenues to be gained by state and local governments.
Job loss and slow economic growth seems to be a bargain basement price to pay to placate the environmental left for Obama, Podesta, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and their radical allies like Steyer.
Last Friday, the Obama administration put the Keystone XL Pipeline on a permanent delay to allow for even more studies. It’s not so much a horrible error, but rather convenient politics.
The delay comes after not-so-thinly-veiled threats from groups pledging to withhold support for Democrats in this year’s mid-term elections. In February, shortly after the State Department declared no significant impacts, several environmental groups including the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council declared that there would be “negative consequences” in this year’s elections for any Democrat members who supported Keystone.
One week prior to this latest announcement by the administration, Steyer asked Democrats, presumably to include Obama, to take a “courage pledge.” In the open letter, Steyer wrote that he stands “ready, willing and able to support” those who stand in the way of Keystone XL.
One thing is clear: the facts and public opinion support building the Keystone XL Pipeline. That’s why 11 Senate Democrats have mustered their own courage in standing up to the radical environmental movement to do what’s right to create jobs, grow our economy and secure our country’s energy future. The President’s union supporters feel this way too.
But the facts be damned.
Obama, his administration and their allies in the environmental movement continue to collude because winning the next election trumps doing what’s right. So the President punts until after the election. It’s all about politics.
One Washington Post writer authored a piece that said the latest delay was “a more sinister, cynical ploy by this administration to manipulate two groups into continuing to support vulnerable Democrats” in the next election.
It sounds like a page straight out of Underwood’s book, and Podesta and Steyer are doing the President’s bidding.
And it’s the American people, the workers who will build this pipeline and our largest trading partner who are the ones getting pushed in front of the train.
