The president has done it again, only this time in the form of quid pro quo.
If anyone doesn’t get it, here’s what must be going on behind the scenes. This president is smart enough to know what people want to hear. Despite all the lip service which draws cheers from the minions at campaign speeches, this president has no intention on breaking partnerships with oil cartels that hold our nation economically hostage. When opportunities do arise to make a significant move in that direction, nothing happens.
The Saudis are jumping with joy, as is Hugo Chavez, for they represent almost one-fourth of the foreign oil imports consumed by America.
By nixing the Keystone Pipeline project, President Barack Obama took three steps backwards in the plight toward energy independence and job creation. Words mean nothing. Actions mean everything.
Every president since Nixon has sworn to do everything possible to wean the United States from dependency on foreign oil. For every president, including this one, it has been empty campaign rhetoric and no substance.
When Carter took office in 1977, he created the Department of Energy for this very purpose. Instead of diminishing foreign oil imports, our dependency has increased from 33 percent in Nixon’s era to roughly 50 percent today. While Canada is our largest import source,Saudi Arabia andVenezuela— two countries who would broker a change in our way of life — account for nearly one-fourth of all foreign imports.
Not only is our economy beholden to the trends and whims of foreign decision-makers, our nation is constantly pitted into a crucial dilemma of national security risks. It is inconceivable that our elected officials do not see this as a simmering crisis. There are solutions, but our leadership team hasn’t got what it takes to do what’s necessary. We cannot, and should not, be beholden to countries that hate us.
Now comes an opportunity to see a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel in the proposed 1700-mile Keystone Pipeline from Canada through and into Texas. The project is estimated to produce 20,000 jobs, plus gazillions of barrels of crude oil from which we could break loose from the Saudi yoke and partner more with our friends to the north.Canada’s government has flatly said that if the United States does not deal, they might sell their product to China. What aer we waiting for?
He who hesitates…
Even a Democratic-controlled Senate voted 89-10 in December to go forward with a proposal to consider the pipeline. Most of those senators are convinced it will be environmentally safe. North Dakota’s Kent Conrad, Democrat Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said, “The pipeline is absolutely in the national interest.” Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana said he offered support for the pipeline and the jobs it would create. The White House Jobs council supports the project. Even the labor unions are supporting the pipeline.
Blaming republicans, the president has rejected the proposal claiming they forced his hand by not allowing more time to study. That’s more lip service. The administration, including the leadership of the state department, said that no decision on the matter will be made until after the November elections. National security, job creation, economic factors and the American people are all trumped by politics as usual. And, they are trumped by suspicious loyalties to foreign entities, exactly what the constitution was designed to prevent.
Where do the president’s interests lie? Besides the Saudis and Venezuela, they lie to his benefactors, American taxpayers be damned. Following the BP spill, a moratorium was declared to prevent U.S.off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Yet, Brazil’s Petrobras Oil Company, owned in part by George Soros, was given the go-ahead to drill in the gulf in early 2011.
The Anwar Oil Field is a huge natural reserve in the northern remote regions of Alaska, we’ve yet to tap into. Our resources are vast, but nothing happens.
Solutions exist for weaning off foreign oil. Obama talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk.
Time we stopped bowing to Saudi Arabia and take care of the homeland first.
20,000 jobs. A giant step toward Oil independence. Answer: No
Time for a new president … please.
Marshall Frank
Thirty years of law enforcement in Miami, Florida, including sixteen years working homicide, gives Marshall Frank a huge reservoir from which to draw insights into the problems facing America today. After retiring from the Miami-Dade P.D. in 1990, Frank went on to become a writer, now with eight published books, five fiction and three non-fiction. His book “Militant Islam In America” was published after an exhaustive research study about the inroads that radicals are making within the borders of the U.S. He is currently working on a non-fiction book about the abominable criminal justice system. Book listings, prices and availability can be accessed at his web site: http://www.marshallfrank.com.