Keystone, Obama, and Leadership

The Weekly Standard ^ | February 9, 2012 | Jim Prevor

[JimPrevor]

Yet despite all this, the gist of Nocera’s column is not to chastise the president for making a bad decision, he, instead, blames our “poisoned politics.” In fact, he explains away the president’s decision:

"I realize that President Obama rejected Keystone because, politically, he had no choice. My guess is that, in his centrist heart of hearts, the president wanted to approve it. But to give the go-ahead before the election was to risk losing the support of the environmentalists who make up an important part of his base…"

Of course, to say that President Obama “had no choice” is to say that it is unreasonable to expect leadership from him. Leaders both help educate their supporters as to what is desirable and stand up to them when the national interest demands.

[JimPrevor]

We seem to have reached a point in our politics in which op-ed columnists for the New York Times think it is unreasonable to expect the president of the United States to do things that are not in their short-term political interests. If our expectations for our political leadership are so low, our ability to progress as a nation will be low indeed.

[philman_36]

Since New York Times requires me to log in, which I refuse to do, they're out of luck on having me read their article.
Having read yours I must first query...are you open to criticism as well as praise?

[Kickass Conservative]

>”in his centrist heart of hearts”<

Looks like the Bong got passed around before he hit the keyboard.

Sometimes, you don’t know whether to laugh, cry or shoot something.

[RedMDer]

We have an election coming and FR must be up and running and healthy if we are going to make a difference. All contributions are for the Current Quarter Expenses. In other words, FR could go away if the expenses for this quarter are not met. Where would you go? Click here or mail checks to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

We have an election coming and FR must be up and running and healthy if we are going to make a difference. All contributions are for the Current Quarter Expenses. In other words, FR could go away if the expenses for this quarter are not met. Where would you go? Click here or mail checks to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794