Obama's XL Pipe Dream

For 38 years, American presidents, both republican and democratic, have called for our nation to be energy independent.

Starting in 1974, President Nixon became the first.

"We will lay the foundation for our future capacity to meet America’s energy needs from America’s own resources," he said.

A democratic president echoed that: "We are the generation that will win the war on the energy problem and in that process, rebuild the unity and confidence of America."

In 1982: "Energy independence is the best preparation America can make for the future."

And yes, even President Obama just last year. “For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny.”

Eight presidents. One opinion. Relying on the gulf, a volatile region where many countries are our sworn enemy. Relying on that region for our most important resource is a policy for disaster. Breaking the shackles of energy dependence has been a goal of American policy makers for two decades.

The Obama administration had a chance to change all of that but today is taking a pass. The Obama administration is killing the Keystone Pipeline.

The seven billion dollar pipeline stretching from Alberta, Canada to Port Arthur, Texas would increase our share of imports from Canada from 22 percent of all imports to 30 percent.

There is hardly a friendlier nation to import from. Libya, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are not the countries we should be relying on for such a critical resource. They are not reliable. The Arab Spring and the unrest in the region make it truer today than ever.

But the goal of energy independence is just one reason for approving the pipeline. There is another -- jobs -- 20 thousand of them.

The pipeline is presumed to create jobs not just for construction workers but for engineers, planners and architects. It is a shovel ready project alright, and its seven billion dollar price tag is not one that would be footed by American taxpayers, not much of it anyway. It would be paid for by TransCanada.

So let's go over the compelling reasons for supporting this pipeline...

-- Energy independence

-- Jobs

-- Economic shot in the arm

-- Keeps China from benefitting from the Canadian oil.

And today, we are even further away from energy independence. To be sure, the pipeline alone doesn't solve our dependence problems. We still have a long way to go, but the White House has done nothing to uphold Obama’s promise of energy independence.

The world is passing us by because he cares more about promoting liberals' dream of green energy and sticking it to republicans than solving problems. He’s too caught up in the ridiculous idea that we have to feel guilty over our energy consumption.

It’s time Obama chose a pipeline instead of a pipe dream.