President Barack Obama's
veto of the Keystone pipeline bill puts him on course to seal the end of his presidency in isolation,
The Wall Street Journal editorial board said.
In an editorial published Tuesday, the Journal said that if the Keystone decision marks a new phase of his presidency "he'll finish out his tenure as a Howard Hughes-like penthouse recluse who is ever more withdrawn from the political and economic center."
The Journal noted that the Keystone proposal enjoyed broad bipartisan support, along with the backing of business, labor unions, most consumers, and Canada. It has the benefit of creating jobs, strengthening North American energy security, and increasing prosperity, the newspaper said.
"Mr. Obama is refusing these benefits to bow to the environmental-left fringe that opposes all carbon energy," the Journal said.
The newspaper also questioned Obama's justification for the veto. Obama told Congress that the bill "cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest."
"The Keystone has been in regulatory limbo for about 2,300 days in perhaps the most extensive permitting review in the history of American government," the Journal said.
The editorial board added that it suspected Obama's veto was also driven by a desire to undermine a key component of the Republican agenda, knowing that Congress will also likely fall short of gathering the necessary two-thirds majority to override the veto.
"The Washington press corps is all but filing profiles of Mr. Obama's veto pen (a Cross Townsend roller-ball) and explaining that his wall of vetoes against anything that comes out of Congress is his 'strategy' for the next two years. The better way of putting it is that Mr. Obama will leave office increasingly isolated, obstructionist and partisan," the Journal said.