Joe Romm on Countdown: Keith Olbermann Excoriates Obama's Reversal On Smog Regulation (VIDEO)

Olbermann Excoriates Obama's Reversal On Smog Regulation

by Jack Mirkinson, Huffington Post, September 3, 2011

Keith Olbermann excoriated President Obama on his Friday show for halting the impending toughening of environmental regulations against smog.

The announcement from the White House that it would keep widely criticized 2006 regulations in place until at least 2013 did not sit well with Olbermann. In the voiceover introduction to his show, he thundered, "what the hell is going on in the White House?"

Olbermann said that Obama had given a huge gift to polluters and corporations, and had delivered an equally large "whack across the knees" to his base.
"It seems, in short, to reduce his campaign logic to 'what are you going to do, vote for Rick Perry?'" Olbermann said. He noted that Obama's EPA administrator had called the 2006 standards "not legally defensible," and scoffed at the president's stated excuse for not updating them -- that, since the standards were going to be reviewed in 2013, he did not want to ask states and businesses to undergo two rounds of tinkering with their environmental policies.

"So, if you're having trouble breathing, or if you just occasionally do breathe, kindly help the president out and hold your breath until the year 2013 or later," Olbermann said. Later, speaking to a guest about the issue, he was equally scornful.

"Who on earth in the White House thinks this is a positive for them and in which delusional parallel universe do they live?" he asked.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/03/olbermann-obama-smog_n_947942.html