Barack Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

At the Huffington Post, Robert Redford thanks President Obama for "Standing up to Big Oil" in refusing to approve the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada.

More accurately, Obama didn't stand up to Big Oil, he caved to theatrical environmentalists like Mr. Redford, costing Americans jobs, energy security and, in the process snubbed a friend and ally. The project is almost literally a no-brainer. It's environmentally responsible and will provide thousands of good jobs to the people who will build it.

But there is no reasoning with the likes of Mr. Redford who asserts that project "promised riches for the oil giants and an environmental disaster for the rest of us."

Let's face it, Mr. Redford made millions as an actor, making fun films like The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That is, by getting people to suspend disbelief. That's OK, for a couple of hours a week sitting in a darkened theater but when it comes to the nation's energy policy, facing reality is in order.

America needs oil to prosper and it is going to need it for decades to come. And it is better to get it and drill for it closer to home than to get it from the Middle East.

Environmental zealots can demonize big oil all they want but it remains (along with natural gas and coal) the cheapest most reliable energy source we've got. And if we don't take Canada's oil, China will.

Sez Mr. Redford:

Economic security is to be found in clean energy not in dirty energy that threatens us with oil spills and ever worsening harm from climate change."

This is beyond silly. There is no economic security to be found in clean energy... the technology simply isn't there yet. Just ask the Germany.

From Der Spiegel:

For weeks now, the 1.1 million solar power systems in Germany have generated almost no electricity. The days are short, the weather is bad and the sky is overcast. 

 As is so often the case in winter, all solar panels more or less stopped generating electricity at the same time. To avert power shortages, Germany currently has to import large amounts of electricity generated at nuclear power plants in France and the Czech Republic. To offset the temporary loss of solar power, grid operator Tennet resorted to an emergency backup plan, powering up an old oil-fired plant in the Austrian city of Graz.

Who does Redford think he's fooling? I mean, Huffington Post readers are gullible but they're not stupid.

Of course, he and his fellow activists cheered when the President poured billions of taxpayer dollars into wonderful politically-connected "clean energy"companies like Solyndra, only to see them go belly-up and broke. For liberals, it's always the thought that counts.

Redford continues:

The president stood up to Big Oil and listened to Americans saying: "We're done with fossil fuel schemes that destroy our land, poison our water and wreak havoc with our climate so that oil companies can make out like bandits." Now we need to continue to stand with the president and make it clear that tar sands pipelines are not in our national interest.

Good thing when it came to his movies, Redford always had screenwriters. If he said such a flaky thing in a film, people would laugh all the way to the curb.