MSNBC: Obama’s Latest Keystone Delay Hard To Defend, Bad Policy

It hurts the very red state Democrats who need it

04.21.2014 | News | Jerome Hudson |

Obama’s dumb decision to delay the development and completion of the Keystone Pipeline was blasted by Democratic Senators over the weekend. “Today’s decision by the Administration amounts to nothing short of an indefinite delay of the Keystone Pipeline,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), chairwoman of the Energy Committee. “This decision is irresponsible, unnecessary and unacceptable,” Landrieu wrote along with 11 other pro-Keystone Democratic Senators.

This morning, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” panel piled on the criticism. MSNBC contributor Mark Halperin said, “Leave the politics aside, as you said, just to go to the jobs and the ability of the United States to do big things. I don’t understand the delay.”

Even “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski–a reactionary defender of the Obama administration–couldn’t “defend” the decision to delay the pipeline saying, “There have been like four state department reviews approving or opening the door for it to move forward. It’s hard to defend.”

“I think it’s bad policy, I think it’s bad for jobs when we need jobs, sends a bad message to Vladimir Putin and we need to send a strong message. Let’s just look at it politically; I don’t understand the politics of it because it hurts the very red state Democrats who need,” Joe Scarborough said.

Later, on another one of the left-leaning peacock network’s affiliate channels, CNBC contributor John Harwood echoed his liberal colleagues saying this latest Keystone delay is “100% politics” and is not the finest hour for the Obama administration.

Jerome Hudson

Managing Editor

Jerome Hudson has written for numerous national outlets, including The Hill, National Review, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was recognized as one of Florida’s emerging stars, having been included in the list “25 Under 30: Florida’s Rising Young Political Class.” Hudson is a Savannah, Ga. native who currently resides in Florida.

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