Kemp: Keystone Is Dragging Down The Democrats

The result is that both sides are locked in a bitter fight to the death - and the casualty has been the Democratic Party.

Let The Process Play Out

Officially, the Obama administration has not taken a view on the pipeline's merits. It says it is still waiting for the outcome of a court case in Nebraska, one of the states along the proposed route, and for the State Department to make an official recommendation about whether the pipeline is in the U.S. national interest.

In the meantime, the White House, backed by many Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, insists the decision whether to authorise construction must be made by the president, not Congress.

"The president believes that this is something that should be determined though the State Department and the regular process that is in place to evaluate projects like this," his spokesman told reporters recently.

"Congress is not - and nor should it be - in the business of legislating the approval or disapproval of a construction project," echoed Angus King, an independent senator from Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats.

In practice, the administration has repeatedly deferred a decision, apparently hoping to put it off until after the president leaves office, to avoid making a choice which will make the president very unpopular with one side or other.

The president himself appears uninformed, or badly briefed, about the pipeline and about energy policy more generally despite its fundamental importance to Canada, the country's closest neighbour and ally, and the U.S. economy.