Landrieu Keystone Pipeline Bill Filibustered

Sen. Landrieu, who supported the pipeline for some time, pushed for a stand alone vote in part according to analysts to help her apparently doomed run-off election or perhaps as one final swan song that might also help her past-Senate lobbying career.  The blocked vote (by one) still might have helped her, it in part by now a symbol for both sides (pro and con, environmental or Democrats in general) far beyond its immediate effects. 

A transcript of Naomi Klein's segment can be found here and with it is a statement from Obama that is negative as to its value:

My government believes that we should judge this pipeline based on whether or not it accelerates climate change or whether it helps the American people with their energy costs and their gas prices. And I have to constantly push back against this idea that somehow the Keystone pipeline is either this massive jobs bill for the United States or is somehow lowering gas prices. Understand what this project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. And it doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.

He has dragged out things here, even if I'm unclear if he ever gave a firm "no" on the matter. I guess we will see if he will get a chance to veto legislation in the next Congress or if a filibuster will hold there, especially since one of those votes was from a retiring lame duck due to be replaced by a Republican.  Few Democrats generally labelled conservative voted against it though Sen. Feinstein did, suggesting every vote counts and those who see little use for Landrieu might be a tad shortsighted. 

There was pushback on even having the vote from some on the left, but in hindsight it seems to work out pretty well. The message is that Landrieu is something of an outlier, helping her somewhat I guess, while the Democrats as a whole appear both loyal to a member of their caucus (though in a somewhat token way -- their campaign committee isn't much for, e.g., helping her with funds)  but still pro-environment. At least, that can be how things are framed and that is ultimately the bottom line if we go by results.  A holding action is a win the next two years.

A final word. I have, perhaps wrongly, not been that informed about this issue, partially since it never was totally immediate (the final okay) though as a general matter I would have avoided it if possible -- it's one of those things where I follow a precautionary principle and opposition is a red flag. I'm still wary about it clouding out everything else -- Obama did do some good overall in pushing for green policies -- overall I'm with the Democrats as a whole here. It looks like a bad idea.