It was kind of President Obama to stop by the Valley the other day to feign concern about the California drought (not that real concern isn't justified). He even said he'll sprinkle a few federal millions on the parched earth. Later he jetted off for meetings with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and a few rounds of golf on some of the Coachella Valley’s 124 golf courses, which seem no worse the wear despite the drought.
It made a nice photo op, but Obama's concern didn't extend to weighing in on the state's north-south water fight. "I'm not going to wade into this," he said. I want to get out alive on Valentine's Day." These days the most prominent feature of that fight is Gov. Jerry Brown's desire to bore twin tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Those tunnels have the potential of cutting off the biggest source of water for the largest of all fresh water estuaries in the West.
Say what you will, Obama is a canny enough pol to recognize a landmine when he sees one. That trip-wire avoidance extended to his underlings. Asked specifically about the twin tunnel proposal, USCA Secretary Tom Vilsack and John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology, both made the impossible-to-believe claim that they were not familiar with the tunnel proposal.
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