Although President Obama promised that it wouldn’t be ‘politics as usual’ when he took office, it has become just one of many promises he made and failed to uphold.

Although the GOP have almost succeeded in accelerating a decision on a US- Canada oil pipeline, there is hinting in DC that Obama could still kill the deal and the 20,000 shovel ready jobs it would produce in exchange for the environmental vote in 2012.

Obama originally postponed a decision until 2013, planning to wait until after the election to make his choice in order not to offend two key Democratic constituencies.

By delaying the decision he doesn’t offend environmentalists opposed to the project or unions who are in favor of the pipeline for the jobs it would create.

The Senate yesterday passed a $1 trillion spending plan to keep the governments running through next September.  This legislation also requires the State Department to decide in two months on the controversial Keystone XL  pipeline.

According to a report by Reuters, the short time frame would “almost certainly” cause the State Department to reject the pipeline because there would not be enough time to finish environmental studies, an Obama administration official told the news service.

Voters should watch Obama’s strategy on this issue carefully.  For it was he that said “he wakes up every morning thinking about jobs.” 

If so, approve the pipeline.

But I’m afraid that what Obama meant when he said it “was not going to be politics as usual” when he got into office, “it was going to be worse.”