Obama can’t wait to kick the can down the road

Published January 18, 2012 5:00am ET



The Obama administration will block the Keystone pipeline and the 20,000 non-taxpayer-funded jobs it would create. From The Hill:

The State Department is expected to make an announcement at 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. While the administration is expected to reject TransCanada Corp.’s permit application, it will allow the company to reapply, according to the source.

In other words, this is a non-denial-denial, intended once again to delay a decision that Obama would rather make after the election. It was only made necessary when Congress imposed a deadline for Obama to make up his mind on the application.

Obama’s hesitancy on the Keystone pipeline stems from a fissure between unions and environmentalists as to whether it should be built. The pipeline would bring oil from Canadian tar sands to the U.S.