“This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategythat develops every available source of American energy — a strategy that'scleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.” – Obama’s 2012 State of the Union
That may be what the United States needs, but it is not what Obama isoffering.
First off, it should be a no-brainer that an“all-of-the-above” strategy would include tapping into a safe, plentifulsupplier of oil in our neighbor to the north. Nevertheless, the Keystone XLpipeline, a privately funded infrastructure project that would bring tens ofthousands of jobs to the United States, was recently rejected by PresidentObama. The decision came despite a three-year environmental review that foundno threat and the inescapable reality that without the pipeline the oil willjust be shipped in tankers to China while we continue to import oil on tankersfrom the Middle East. Yet another triumph for politics over policy.
Secondly, federal subsidization of certain renewable energytechnologies has more often than not been a bust. Obama may tout the increaseduse of renewables and the thousands of jobs created, but when set against thebillions of dollars in taxpayer money that has been invested in ensuring theirsuccess, those statistics become less impressive. After all, let’s not forgetthat at the outset of the Obama campaign Obama promised to “create 5 milliongreen jobs.” Now, he’s reduced to touting the “thousands” that he’s managed toprop up with deficit-financed support.
Somehow Obama still hasn’t learned his lesson from Solyndra.