Maybe Obama isn't as calculating as he sometimes appears.
Or maybe he's fighting for his political life.
This impressive story by a reporter for Huffpo relates how the Keystone pipleline became a trainwreck inside the administration after the State department screwed up the environmental review.
Hillary Clinton's State Department has now spent more than three years considering whether to greenlight Keystone, far longer than any previous similar projects. From the start, the process has been driven more by haste than cautious study, numerous government officials who participated in the process say. Officials there took far too long to recognize that Keystone XL would become a touchstone for so much controversy, choosing to focus on diplomatic reasons why the pipeline was 'in the national interest,' while overlooking environmental reasons why it might not be. Indeed, the department initially passed responsibility for the environmental review, now the focus of most of the uproar, into the hands of a single, inexperienced staffer and a contractor with ties to the energy industry, while — as the meeting at CEQ showed — disregarding other, more experienced agencies.
And this Reuters story relates how the administration is bracing itself from blowback from its base over the approval that is expected. Again the story restates the nearly universal belief among insiders, apparently, that the Obama administration will approve the massively destructive tar sands pipeline.
Some administration policy advisers expect the pipeline will be approved because of the energy security and jobs it would create, according to one source who met with two White House staffers about the subject recently.
"Everything I heard suggests there's no change in the sentiment that this will go forward," the source said.
Another source, who said he discussed the issue with senior officials from Obama's 2012 campaign operation, said a delay in the decision seemed increasingly likely.
But here's the puzzling recent turn in the controversy. President Obama has gone out of his way to take responsibility for the decision:
Obama has indicated he will make the final call. In a television interview on Tuesday, he outlined the economic and health criteria he would consider when the State Department's recommendations come his way.
Why take responsibility if you expect to make an unpopular decision? Doesn't make sense for a politician, does it? Especially since State will advocate the pipeline, and approval is expected. You'll get no credit, and all the blame.
What am I missing?
Could Obama possibly be considering demanding a fuller review, and is taking responsibility to make clear in advance to Hillary that he is not happy with the way State handled the question?
Kit Stolz 