Barack Obama and a weird silence on part of #climatechange

As the 2016 presidential campaign heats up (pun intended) in both major parties, our current president, Dear Leader, is Alaska-based.

He's talking about how wildfires affect climate change; he's working to boost his environmental cred by renaming McKinley as Denali; and he's doing so because ...

He's a hypocrite on climate change.

But, beyond Mother Jones at that third link ...

Obama's final thoughts on Keystone XL are still a blank slate.

Yes, he vetoed a Congressional bill on Keystone this spring.

However, that was for procedural and executive branch powers issues. There was no real environmentalism of any sort, let alone of the climate change sort, involved.

He said so himself.

Mr. Obama indicated that he vetoed the bill not because of the pipeline itself, but rather because the bill would have removed his authority to make the final decision on the project.

As for the future?

Noncommittal:

In an interview on Monday with Reuters, Mr. Obama said that he could issue a final decision within “weeks or months” — or “by the end of my administration.”

And has remained so for months.

Indeed, it's likely he'll stay silent until after the Oct. 19 Canadian election. And, unless the NDP wins in Canada, stay silent after that?

Keystone proponents are worried. Given that this is our "all of the above" energy strategy president, I wouldn't worry that much.

Personally, as I've blogged many times before, I'm of mixed minds on Keystone. My ultimate thoughts are in a "grand bargain" blog post I wrote, suggesting Obama strike a deal with Congress to approve Keystone in one package with approving a carbon tax and tariff. After all, as I noted there, we're already getting a little tar sands oil here via other methods.

Unfortunately, he's not jangled this blog, or my Twitter or email.