Clinton on Keystone

Hillary Clinton declined Tuesday to take a position on the Keystone pipeline and suggested we may not know her position until she is president. Her comments seem likely to compound the grief she was already getting from the left over the issue.

Via Alex Seitz-Wald of MSNBC, here’s what happened: “At a town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., a man asked Clinton if she would sign a bill supporting the controversial pipeline — ‘yes or no, please,’ he insisted. ‘Well,’ she replied, pausing. ‘This is President Obama’s decision and I am not going to second guess him.’ Clinton continued, saying she would wait to see what Obama does. ‘If it’s undecided when I become president, I will answer your question.’ ”

Ms. Clinton is saying that she isn’t going to step on the formal approval process as it unfolds. If it’s not complete until she is president, then that’s when she’ll take her position. Her formulation comes across as haughty and regal, but underneath that is an actual stance on how this process should work.

But what Ms. Clinton can’t avoid here is that climate advocates and environmentalists want to know her position on Keystone not just because they are naturally curious about her views on this project, but for a larger reason: They think it will indicate how strong her resolve is to stand up to fossil fuel projects and to combat climate change in a general sense.