"An act of national insanity."

That's how respected economist Robert Samuelson described President Obama's decision to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would have carried crude oil from Canada to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast. (Read the entire column here.)

Samuelson is absolutely right, and yesterday's decision alone should disqualify Obama from any chance at re-election.

Even the Washington Post editorial board - hardly a group of free-market, pro-growth advocates - saw the absolute folly of Obama's decision, writing: "On the substance (of the issue) there should be no question."

In case you haven't followed the story closely, Keystone would have carried 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to the gulf coast. It would have created thousands of jobs, and helped to reduce the leverage Middle Eastern countries have on our oil supply.

Obama was forced to choose between two Democrat constituencies that had staked out a position on the project: Organized labor, which wanted the jobs, and left-wing environmentalists, who somehow believe that blocking the pipeline (leaving us more dependent on Middle Eastern oil) will force us to use less oil.

Because the far-left nuts are about the only reliable voting bloc he has left, the President chose to appease them, costing us jobs, damaging relations with Canada and giving a huge gift to the Chinese, who are the most likely customer for the Canadian oil.

(As an aside, isn't it a shame that he couldn't simply base the decision on the best interests of the United States of America, rather than on what might enhance his re-election chances? If he had done that, as the Post says, "there should be no question.")

This project has been under review for more than three years, and has passed every regulatory hurdle it had faced. Obama's own "Jobs Council" had reported just the day before that the energy and security needs of this country "require the United States to optimize all of its natural resources and construct pathways (pipelines, transmission and distribution) to deliver electricity and fuel.” It added that regulatory and permitting obstacles "that could threaten the development of some energy projects, negatively impact jobs and weaken our energy infrastructure need to be addressed.”

Again, the Washington Post editorial page: "Rejecting Keystone XL would....help China lock up more of the world’s oil production, cost infrastructure jobs in the United States and offend a reliable ally. More delay after three years of review is insult enough."

Simply put, Obama put his own re-election needs ahead of the needs of the country. It was an act of national insanity to elect this guy, and it would be even more insane to give him four more years.