Obama & Keystone: Betrayal of Future Generations

Dear Mr. President,

I read with doubt and then disbelief the glowing tributes to your inaugural address. “Soaring rhetoric,” “Obama unbound,” “Obama offers liberal vision.” Even Jim Higthtower drank the Kool-Aid: “Barack Obama stood tall before the people to declare without guile and for all to hear: This is what I believe; these are my guiding principles; this is where I intend to move America.” I did not hear your speech but I printed it out and read it. Sorry, Mr. President, but I didn’t think it was all that great. A few good lines but nothing I’d call soaring or stirring, nothing that changed my opinion of what has been and what is to come. Platitudes and promises, long on generalities, short on specifics, nothing to make me a true believer. Some progressives and environmentalists focused on your mention of climate change—“We, the people still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.”—and right there’s where I think the rubber meets the road, the bellwether of Obama Redux. On Tuesday, Nebraska’s Republican Governor, Dave Heineman, approved a revised route for the Keystone Pipeline—against vocal opposition by citizens and environmentalists—and tossed it in your lap. Yesterday, 54 Senators—44 Republicans and 10 Democrats—signed a letter urging you to approve the pipeline. I’m putting my money on approval. A safe bet, I think. Why would you have approved the southern leg—even called for expedited construction—if you didn’t intend all along to approve the northern leg? And a look at your history is pure Drill Baby Drill: opening the Arctic, re-opening the Gulf after the disastrous BP blowout, opening coastal waters, unregulated fracking, allowing coal exports to China (indeed, all that tar sands oil coming down through the Keystone pipeline is destined for foreign buyers, not domestic), and, most significantly, no major initiative to shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy. There’s nothing to cheer about in your record and nothing in your rhetoric to make me believe your second term will be any different from your first. Sadly, I believe only the latter phrase—“failure… would betray our children and future generations”—will be part of your legacy, for your first four years are filled with betrayal, with lies and false promises, and what I read Monday was more of the same.