President Obama, Mitt Romney Clash Over Keystone XL Pipeline

WASHINGTON -- After President Obama confirmed he would deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing the project fails to serve the national interest, Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney was quick to attack.

Romney on Wednesday called the president's rejection of the pipeline "as shocking as it is revealing," accusing Obama of pandering to environmentalists in an election year.

"It shows a president who once again has put politics ahead of sound policy," Romney said in a statement, adding that the president "seems to have confused the national interest with his own interest in pleasing the environmentalists in his political base."

Romney also said Obama was stifling job creation and turning his back on a fragile economy.

"If Americans want to understand why unemployment in the United States has been stuck above 8 percent for the longest stretch since the Great Depression, decisions like this one are the place to begin," Romney said. "By declaring that the Keystone pipeline is not in the 'national interest,' the president demonstrates a lack of seriousness about bringing down unemployment, restoring economic growth, and achieving energy independence."

HuffPost's Tom Zeller has documented that TransCanada's assertion about the pipeline creating 20,000 jobs -- 13,000 in construction and 7,000 in manufacturing -- is a considerable exaggeration.

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt shot back at Romney in a statement on Wednesday.

"Mitt Romney has made clear that he would rubber-stamp whatever the Republicans in Congress demand of him, whether it's a budget that would make the middle class and seniors foot the bill for more tax breaks for the wealthiest, or refusing to evaluate how a pipeline would affect our public health and natural resources," said LaBolt.

LaBolt emphasized that the greatest number of new jobs would come not from projects like Keystone, but from green energy.

"President Obama has pursued a comprehensive energy strategy that has increased our domestic energy production, reduced our dependence on foreign oil to below 50 percent for the first time in 13 years and supported more than 224,000 clean energy jobs," LaBolt wrote.

Also on HuffPost:

 

 

Comments

[baldwjo]

05:13 PM on 01/23/2012

With Obama's moratorium in the Gulf, failure to allow new oil leases and now the Keystone pipeline permit denial, expect gas to be at $5.00 a gallon by summer...He'll be a one termer for sure!

[tittiger]

03:32 PM on 01/21/2012

Dear Ron Paul:
Please file articles of impeachment against this SOB
and then the trial for treason can start shortly afterwards.
I am not being flippant this must be done if there is any justice
left in the world.

[kezaezy]

11:05 PM on 01/19/2012

I love it when Democrats pander to me. Doesn't happen nearly enough.

[nicothebaker]

07:20 PM on 01/19/2012

Obama will lose many more votes from this than the amount he will gain from the enviro-nutjobs. When gas hits $5 a gallon, we will know who to blame. Barack Hussein Obama

[Olivio]

08:57 PM on 01/19/2012

Huargh-huargh-huargh-huaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!

Keep dreaming!

[tittiger]

03:34 PM on 01/21/2012

The hell with blame when is the trial for treason going to be held?

[Anthony Joseph]

07:06 PM on 01/19/2012

Is it a surprise Romney said this? He will say/do whatever to prove hes one of them.

[Genders]

06:25 PM on 01/19/2012

You folks hear about all the stock and investments our congress folks have in the Keystone project? it's obscene.

[juna]

04:59 PM on 01/19/2012

Of course Romney favors the pipeline. Nothing's as important as the almighty dollar. To h--- with the people's water supply.

[EArizona]

04:58 PM on 01/19/2012

"It shows a president who once again has put politics ahead of sound policy." Well Romney if you think this project is a sound policy, then it's a good thing you aren' the President.

[bi-poplar]

04:17 PM on 01/19/2012

"panders to his political base". That, in a nutshell, is what all politicians do, Mitt. You are no different, you just have a different base to pander to

[baxtron]

03:18 PM on 01/19/2012

his non-cancerous base. his cancerous base is furious.

[l78lancer]

03:15 PM on 01/19/2012

Mitt, your righeous indignation and sanctimonious statements are falling on deaf ears. They have been trying to figure out how to get at the oil sands in Canada for decades. You get one shot to do it right the first time, and once it's built it's built. So a few more weeks or months to be sure that things are done right environmentally won't hurt.

Based on Canada's Prime Minister's comments perhaps he should shoot his best shot and build a pipeline across the rockies to the Pacific or across the North Pole, with the money from China - who will then own their pipeline purchased with their stickpile of foreign reserve American dollars.

Otherwise he and Mitt ought to be quiet and let things happen in good order.

[l78lancer]

02:42 PM on 01/19/2012

"Romney also said Obama was stifling job creation and turning his back on a fragile economy."
--------------------------------------------------->

Mitt's attack is akin to a chihuahua attacking a thorobred. Besides, considering his questionable record at Bain, and his pathetic record as governor, Mitt has yet to truly demonstrate that he is truly knowlegeable, let alone expert in the area of job creation.

[mamacat]

02:09 PM on 01/19/2012

If by base one means the American people, then yes, Obama is pandering to his base.

If he means the oil companies, and the Right-wingers, then no, he is not pandering to Mitt's base.

[mike711l]

01:23 PM on 01/19/2012

Our President has headed off an environmental disaster of biblical proportions! (You like how I worked the bible in there to get the attention of Evangelicals!).

I'd like an accounting of the following:
How many times lobbyists from the oil companies have visited GOP congressmen in the past year.
How much oil companies have donated to GOP candidates recently.
How much GOP congressmen have invested in the pipeline project.
How much GOP SuperPAC funders have invested in the project.

I'm sure the results wouldn't be surprising but they would be out there for people to see.

[baxtron]

03:19 PM on 01/19/2012

How many secret meeting they had with Dick Cheney. Before and after 9/11.

[mike711l]

12:18 PM on 01/20/2012

Check his man-sized safe for the details. If you can get past Vaders shotgun collection.

[kulak]

11:55 AM on 01/20/2012

Actually he hasn't headed off anything he is just positioning himself for a larger chunk of the payoffs.

[mike711l]

12:19 PM on 01/20/2012

BULL-ony!

[mike711l]

01:18 PM on 01/19/2012

Romney is accusing Obama of pandering to environmentalists. As if environmentalists will decide the election in any way, shape or form!

Even for the corporate robot that is stretching credibility! He must have money invested in the project! Maybe using his money in the Cayman Islands!

[kulak]

12:00 PM on 01/20/2012

You see you have a massively flauded statement, the environmentalists actually get to vote also,
and believe it or not they cast their votes in the direction that best serves their position

It was the shape or form that stood out the most

[mike711l]

12:21 PM on 01/20/2012

What the heck does "flauded" mean?

I can't tell whether you agree or disagree with me.