The Anti-Pro Infrastructure President
Barack Obama has characterized himself as the infrastructure President for his entire tenure in office. Preaching the importance of putting Americans back to work building roads and bridges. In spite of his rhetoric, the reality is starkly different. We have all been perplexed at the administrations reluctance at approving the much debated Keystone Pipeline. The controversial project would ship oil from the tar sands of Alberta Western Canada to refineries in Texas. President Obama's radical environmentalist base have been vocal critics of the project, insisting that it would harm the environment; in spite of the fact that the State Department's environmental impact study denies this.
The State Department's green light however has not forced the President to act. Mr. Obama has even ignored calls from his union base to approve the project. It seems clear that this project will sit a little longer until after the mid-terms, as to not to cause further harm to already wobbly democratic incumbents. To add further evidence to the President's inconsistency on infrastructure is the stalled U.S.-Canada customs plaza, which will link Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. The proposed $3.65 billion project was approved by the administration last April however the U.S. has failed to come up with its portion of the project cost. Ottawa expected Washington to contribute $250 million for the plaza however U.S. officials claim that infrastructure dollars are limited as has urged project sponsors to seek private funding. " We are concerned that the administration by way of inaction will stand in the way if this infrastructure project, said Sandy Baruah, President and Chief executive of the Detroit Regional chamber.
How can this be? The administration and President who have accused Republicans of standing in the way of Americans jobs by playing politics, apparently does not have mirrors in the White House. Its great to speak about wanting to put Americans back to work however the President doesn't seem interested in actually doing it.
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