I am not sure what to make of this news, because it signals that the White House may have a hidden core of sanity hidden some place within its extensive liberal fantasy land:

In a statement Friday, Obama said he had ordered Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw the proposal, in part because of the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and uncertainty for businesses at a time of rampant uncertainty about an unsteady economy.

…

The withdrawal of the proposed EPA rule comes two days after the White House identified seven such regulations that it said would cost private business at least $1 billion each. The proposed smog standard was estimated to cost anywhere between $19 billion and $90 billion, depending on how strict it would be.

OK, so why now all the concern about business impacts regarding the green madness that has infected the liberal left? I mean they did not care about outlawing CO2 and raising energy prices across the board before this? I have never seen an iota of concern or even assistance to businesses when it came to the liberal agenda. It has been over 2 years of “damn the economy, full speed ahead!”

So hwy now? The regulations in question are a Green Kool-Aid Drinker’s dream come true:

Factories, hospitals, universities, power plants and even churches are in the cross hairs of hyperaggressive regulators at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

Seven proposed rules pending before the agency are poised to inflict more than $125 billion in costs on the U.S. economy annually, according to EPA’s own estimates.

Trust me when I say the EPA’s damage assessment to our economy was in all likelihood ridiculously optimistic. So why the sacrificial lamb? Probably because of this::

“While these costs are significant, they are small compared to the potential costs from the EPA’s impending global warming regulations,” said Pat Michaels of the Cato Institute.

The left is now in full desperation mode as they realize they have only a very small window to try and sneak as much of their agenda past the American people before they are toast in 2012. Watch this to be the carrot to the GOP so they can apply the big stick of global warming nonsense in the up coming proposals.

This group in the White House appears to be that naive about DC politics, that they think giving on this will earn them something in return later. Not right now. Not with all their political capital gone and the credibility in the tank. Is there such a thing as a Phyrric Surrender???

Tags: EPA Smog Regulations, Obama, White House, Withdraw