As the nation plays the blame game over escalating gasoline prices, President Obama apparently got tired of well deserved fingers pointing at him.

     After initially halting the 1,110-plus mile Canada to Texas Keystone pipeline, the president last week instructed federal agencies to fast-track the southern section of the project – a 485-mile line from Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, Obama couldn’t resist a little political finger-pointing himself and suggested Congress was playing politics in setting a timeline for him to approve the larger pipeline project.

     Between courting his environmentalist supporters and trying to look presidential in the area of job creation, Obama has gotten himself into a tough spot politically. But supporting the southern pipeline represents the president’s late arrival at the party after deciding on which side of the fence to land.

     Meanwhile, the northern part of the pipeline that would actually connect the U.S. to oil fields in Canada still remains stalemated over environmental issues.

     All the while, citizens and motorists can only watch at the $4 a gallon mark appears ever closer.