Sullivan: Obama visit was 'con job' on Oklahoma
BY WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer
Saturday, March 24, 2012
3/24/12 at 5:29 AM
U.S. Rep. John Sullivan said Friday that President Barack Obama "slithered" into Oklahoma this week for a high-priced photo op but that the state isn't buying his energy policy and neither is anyone else.
"Oklahomans aren't that stupid," Sullivan told the Tulsa Republican Club. "We aren't going to believe in this con job that he's doing.
"It's nothing more than a con job, and you know what? The American people feel the same way. They're not buying it, either."
Obama spoke Thursday at the Oklahoma staging point for the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, which will carry oil from Payne County to the Gulf Coast.
Although Obama announced an executive order instructing federal agencies to clear the way for the project, he previously rejected the proposed routing for the northern leg of the pipeline, which would carry Canadian oil to the United States.
Sullivan said Obama's Thursday visit was a political move in response to polls showing that his rejection of the Keystone project's northern leg was unpopular.
In reality, Obama's energy policy is designed to kill domestic production, he said.
"He's trying to kill the oil and gas industry, and I'm going to fight every single day in Washington to make sure he doesn't," Sullivan said.
The petroleum industry represents 322,000 jobs in Oklahoma, including 120,000 in the Tulsa-based First Congressional District, Sullivan said, adding that those jobs are at risk because of Obama's policies.
"He's talking about taking our jobs," he said. "President Obama wants those jobs."
Sullivan contrasted Obama's policies with his own proposal to promote natural gas as a transportation fuel, the so-called NAT GAS Act.
That proposal would cost taxpayers nothing, would create 400,000 private-sector jobs and would put the country on course to energy independence by 2020, Sullivan said.
Earlier this month, an attempt to put language mirroring Sullivan's proposal into a Senate roads bill failed.
During Friday's speech, Sullivan said he hasn't made any endorsement in the Republican presidential race, but he is completely dedicated to winning the election for whomever the party nominates.
"We need to make sure (Obama) does not get re-elected," he said. "I think we want the most conservative person who can beat Barack Obama."
Original Print Headline: Obama visit was 'con job' on state, Sullivan says
Wayne Greene 918-581-8308
wayne.greene@tulsaworld.com
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U.S. Rep. John Sullivan: He says Obama's policies have put petroleum jobs at risk.
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