Everyone in Washington knows when you want to get out the news when the majority of folks aren't paying attention, Friday afternoon is the time to do it. And on Good Friday? Even better.
Regardless of where you stand on the benefits or dangers of the XL Keystone pipeline being approved in the U.S., you've got to admit that seemingly the last thing in the world that President Obama wants to do is decide on this hotly controversial measure. So his State Department is once again punting on any decision, announcing on Friday that its long-awaited review of the project once again will be extended, quite possibly until after the November midterms.
But on NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz insisted that politics had nothing to do with this latest delay.
"What's true is the decision over the Keystone pipeline is complex, and it's one that has to be examined very carefully. It affects multiple states," Wasserman Schultz said in response to Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, who called the latest delay "irresponsible, unnecessary, and unacceptable."
The DNC Chair and South Florida Democratic Congresswoman added that "what's also true is that incumbent senators, like Mary Landrieu, understand the issues that are important on the ground in their state to their constituents." And there was more:
DAVID GREGORY:Will the president approve Keystone in the end? Should he?
DWS: I think he has to continue to take a close look at it. The environmental concerns are legitimate; the economic concerns are legitimate.
DAVID GREGORY: Are you worried, as the party chair, that this shouldn't be resolved before the election because of the potential impact it could have on vulnerable Democrats?
DWS: As a member of Congress who represents hundreds of thousands of people in south Florida, I want to make sure that the right decision is arrived at. And that the president makes that decision carefully and he doesn't factor politics into his decision, which I don't think he is.
While most Republicans support the pipeline and many Democrats do not, in fact parts of the Democratic party are divided on the issue: labor wants the pipeline to be approved for the jobs that it will bring (the number has always been disputed), whereas the environmental community has made it clear that they may declare war on the Obama administration if they ultimately approve the project.
The president isn't going to win on this, whichever way he chooses. Though the latest delay is because of an ongoing discussion in the Nebraska Supreme Court that could affect the project’s route inside the state, nearly everybody who cares about the issue says it's time to man up and call it one way or another.
“It’s disappointing President Obama doesn’t have the courage to reject Keystone XL right now, but this is clearly another win for pipeline opponents,” said Jamie Henn, spokesman for the climate activist group 350.org told Politico.
“Here’s the single greatest shovel-ready project in America — one that could create thousands of jobs right away — but the President simply isn’t interested," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Apparently radical activists carry more weight than Americans desperate to get back on the job.”
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2014.