President wants credit for the “already approved” part of the Keystone oil pipeline project

Gotta hand it to him, he’s fast on the politics…

…especially since media outlets won’t question him.

Guy Benson explains Obama’s “compromise“;

Let’s review: President Obama unilaterally killed the Keystone XL pipeline, a privately-funded project that would have created thousands of American jobs and decreased our reliance on energy from hostile nations.  When Congress moved to override his terrible decision, he personally lobbied members of his own party to hold the line and bury it.  But with Americans laboring under punishingly high energy prices — which he and his administration ideologically support — Obama is starting to feel the political heat.  Something must be done.  That ‘something’ turns out to be an ingeniously shamelesspiece of political Kabuki theater:

President Barack Obama plans to announce in Cushing, Oklahoma, on Thursday that his administration will expedite the permit for the southern half of the Keystone XL pipeline, a source familiar with the president’s announcement told CNN.  Late last month, TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL Pipeline, announced it would move forward with the process to build the southern half of the pipeline, which would begin in Cushing – the president’s third stop on his two-day energy tour. The White House praised the move.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner balked at the idea that President Obama could claim credit for speeding up the approval process of the southern segment of the pipeline. “This is like a governor personally issuing a fishing license,” Brendan Buck said. “There is only a minor, routine permit needed for this leg of the project. Only a desperate administration would inject the President of the United States into this trivial matter. The President’s attempt to take credit for a pipeline he blocked and personally lobbied Congress against is staggering in its dis-ingenuousness. This portion of the pipeline is being built in spite of the President, not because of him.”

Note the bolded part; not because of Obama, but  despite his best efforts at blocking it. Way to pander;

I’ve got to hand it to him. This is so shameless and predictable a pander that it really did make me laugh when I read it. Well played, champ. As far as every low-information voter in America who barely scans the headlines is concerned, you just “approved the Keystone pipeline.” You really do care about gas prices.

You know what irritates the hell out of me? Everything is just accepted as “fact” by people who won’t even bother to get off their butts and dig a little. Why? Because he’s cool. Or something.

Crossposted to Unified Patriots