President Barack Obama appears to be digging in his heels,
announcing he will veto a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline even before the new Republican-led Congress has passed one.
That could be a big mistake, making the president appear to be the obstructionist, Republican operative Karl Rove said Tuesday on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
"The president's trying to pre-emptively push Republicans back from things that might embarrass him," Rove said. Obama has been putting off making a decision on Keystone for years, and the Keystone bill has bipartisan support, as does the repeal of the medical device tax portion of Obamacare.
Obama has two choices, Rove said: "One is to bluster and threaten and foreshadow if you don't do it my way, I'm going to be using the veto. The other way would be to sort of strike a conciliatory tone and if need be, later on use the hammer."
But Obama is making a mistake by being so upfront about his desire to veto the bills because if they pass and he is forced to use his veto pen, it will build his reputation as an obstructionist in his last two years in office.
"It does set a bad tone," Rove said.