Obama Stands Up To The GOP Again

Obama has been much better at standing up to the Republican obstructionists lately. He has picked his issues carefully (like the payroll tax extension) and presented them in such a way that the Republicans are put in the position of opposing what a majority of Americans want -- and then he has refused to back down, and it is working.

But the Republicans thought they had finally got over on him. They were able to tack a rider on the payroll tax extension that forced the president to make a decision on the Keystone pipeline that would stretch from Canada to Texas (and put the environment in danger). The president had said he wanted to put off a decision on the pipeline until the environmental dangers could be more fully explored. He wanted to make the decision in 2013.

But the Republicans were afraid that more study would show how environmentally dangerous the pipeline really is (and they're probably right about that). So to protect the interests of Big Oil over the interests of ordinary Americans, they forced the president to make an immediate decision. They didn't think he would dare to rule against corporate America.

But that's exactly what he did. The White House rejected the pipeline yesterday, saying they had not had enough time to study it. They did say the oil companies could re-submit their application, and again start the process of numerous hearings and studies -- but immediate approval, what the GOP wanted, was not going to happen.

The Republicans got played by Obama -- again. I was very disappointed in President Obama in his first year in office, but I'm starting to really like this new strong President Obama. He's looking more and more like the president I thought I had voted for.