LA Times slams Obama on environment, suggests 2012 consequences

A scathing Los Angeles Times editorial Friday accuses President Obama of throwing environmentalists under the bus as he prepares for next year’s reelection battle.

The piece, headlined “In the 2012 campaign, environmentalists don’t matter,” bashes the administration for slow-walking several green rules, including air pollution standards for industrial boilers that were put on hold this week.

From the editorial:

Shortly after his party's “shellacking” in the midterm election, President Obama ordered government agencies to ensure that new regulations took economic growth into consideration and that old ones be revoked if they “stifle job creation or make our economy less competitive.” Five months later, it's becoming pretty clear what he meant: The environment and public health will be thrown under a bus for the sake of his reelection in 2012.

It adds that with the economy atop voters’ concerns, “Obama no doubt figures he can blunt criticism of his regulatory record and maybe corral some independent voters by cutting smokestack industries a little slack.”

The paper’s attack could hit the White House in a politically sensitive spot.

While California is a reliably blue state in presidential races, it’s also home to major liberal donors whom the Obama campaign will rely on heading into 2012.

The editorial concludes:

Here's an argument Obama and his political advisors might grasp: It's possible for a president to so alienate his base that it fails to show up on election day. Something to keep in mind before November 2012 rolls around.