On November 5, 2014, fresh off a midterm shellacking, President Obama made a conciliatory and optimistic statement: Today, I had a chance to speak with John Boehner and congratulated Mitch McConnell on becoming the next Senate Majority Leader.  And I told them both that I look forward to finishing up this Congress’ business, and then working together for the next two years to advance America’s business. He’s so willing to work with Congress, in fact, that he’s threatened to veto one of the Republicans’ primary initiatives: the go-ahead for Keystone XL, an oil pipeline running from Canada to the United States that is already 40 percent completed. A final stretch of less than 1,200 miles has recently come under intense debate. The pipeline would create nearly 50,000 jobs and ensure the flow of cheap oil into an energy-hungry U.S. Why on Earth would the president threaten to veto such a no-brainer? Pure politics, apparently. When...(Read Full Article)