Obama Lobbies Senators Against Keystone JOBS & "Wins"

Credit where credit is due. 'Todah' to WV Sen. Joe Manchin, who voted to allow the creation of Keystone JOBS (even though the real credit probably goes to Harry Reid for letting Manchin off the leash, as his nay-vote wasn't needed to accomplish the goal of defeating the jobs legislation).

 

John Ransom at Townhall:

56 Senators voted in favor of a plan yesterday that would allow the Keystone pipeline to go forward by cancelling the bureaucratic roadblocks put up by the Obama administration/world-wide bus tour.

“The 56-42 vote came after President Barack Obama called Democratic senators to lobby them to oppose the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast,” reports FoxNews.

“Even so, 11 Democrats sided with Republicans to sidestep Obama's rejection of the pipeline and allow the $7 billion project to go forward.”

Yet, despite the majority vote, Senate rules apparently require a 60-vote supermajority to create jobs in this country. 

 

And according to Democrat Party rules, any vote to create jobs also has to have a massive, wasteful, multi-trillion dollar appropriation attached to it. This rules out Keystone.

With that in mind, it’s time for voters to begin to ask the most obvious question: What quid pro quo is Obama promising members of Congress, to stall the pipeline and the immediate, well-paying jobs that go along with it? ... only the congresstrons who were on the phone with Obama can really answer what Obama promised them in return for their votes.

Reports CNN:

For their part, congressional Republicans blasted the president for twisting the arms of fellow Democrats.

"By personally lobbying against the Keystone pipeline, it means the president of the United States is lobbying for sending North American energy to China and lobbying against American jobs," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said at a news conference. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said Obama is "out of touch" on the issue.

Ya think?

"At a moment when millions are out of work, gas prices are skyrocketing, and the Middle East is in turmoil, we've got a president who's up making phone calls trying to block a pipeline here at home," he said. "It's unbelievable."

* * *

...Democrats presumably prefer the new triangle-slavery route[:]

• Canada ships oil to China,
• China creates jobs,
• US imports dollars from China to pay for entitlement programs to support people who don’t have jobs here ....   

 

Augh.

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

No quid pro quo needed. All Obama had to do was issue a simple threat: "Vote my way, or I'll unleash every mad-dog environmentalist group in the country to defeat you in your next election." The Greens have one big advantage in this situation: they're organized. The many out-of-work Americans who would benefit from Keystone, and the millions of Americans who just want cheaper gas, aren't. Obama gave those craven Dims an offer they couldn't resist.