Imagine Republican fat cats who want President Obama to say yes to the Keystone XL pipeline taking oil from Canada to Port Arthur, Texas. Imagine that in making their pitch, they likened freeing the pipeline to Lincoln’s freeing of the slaves.
Now imagine the ensuing uproar.
The press would be filled with editorials thundering that Republicans didn’t know the difference between an underground pipeline . . . and the Underground Railroad.
Yet slavery is the analogy invoked by rich Democratic donors. The only difference is that they invoke it in opposition to the pipeline. In a letter to Obama, here’s what these donors said about Lincoln, slavery and oil:
“He made one of the most important decisions of his presidency and for our nation when he decided that he would fight for the 13th Amendment to end slavery even if it took every ounce of his political capital. Your decision on Keystone may not be so weighty, but we believe it holds a comparable urgency and importance, not strictly as a pipeline decision but as a presidential choice that will signal a fundamentally new direction for our nation.”
Sure, the pipeline involves an important presidential decision. But is it equivalent to ending human bondage?
Signers of the letter include the usual smattering of investors, actresses and environmentalists. One name caught our eye: Susan Pritzker. She is related by marriage to Penny Pritzker — the president’s nominee for secretary of commerce.
If confirmed, maybe she could use her cabinet post to explain to Obama donors the distinction between oil, which is a commodity, and human beings, who are not.