Save It For After the Election

Two alarming developments in political news this week:

Thursday, with a transportation bill awaiting a vote in the Senate, the president called on some democrats to sway their vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline amendment.  He reportedly promised them that he'd deal with Keystone after the election, but wants it quashed for now.  He got his wish.

Senate republicans are to be commended for their tenacity and unwillingness to let this pipeline disappear from the legislative agenda. It could easily be argued that it could find a better piece of legislation to piggyback on than this roads and highways funding bill. However, it seems that the executive branch has decided to play politics to impede legislation that doesn't appease his base  until after the election.  In other words, the Do-Nothing Congress got their orders from the Do-Nothing Executive: save it until after November.

In an international development:

After meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, two subtly different versions of the outcome were reported by the two sides.  That isn't unusual, since all leaders spin, but Netanyahu's later comments to his home press were much more disturbing.  According to HotAir.com, President Obama proposed a deal to the Prime Minister of Israel, offering special bunker-bursting bombs and other specialized weaponry in exchange for a promise that Israel won't act against Iran's nuclear program until after the US election.  The weapons deal had been negotiated earlier, but the suggestion that delivery would be conditional on waiting for the November 2012 election is a new wrinkle.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied the allegation, but Israel's PM is standing by his story.

Consider yourself warned: if both of these allegations are true, our president is clearly more worried about retaining his power than in upholding the duties of his office.