Outraged politicians forget Obama’s stand against nuclear dump

What a difference a day makes. President Barack Obama went from a hero deserving Nevada's gratitude to a bum trying to kill Las Vegas' economy.

On Monday, when Obama released his budget zeroing out the Yucca Mountain Project, effectively killing it, he was thanked by Nevada officials. Harry Reid, John Ensign. Reps. Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus all issued positive statements. So did Gov. Jim Gibbons. Only Rep. Dean Heller ignored the Yucca Mountain story

On Tuesday, Obama said in New Hampshire: "You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college."

Now he's a bum among the same Nevadans, Democrats and Republicans, who were singing his praises 24 hours earlier. (Once again, Heller has nothing to say about it.)

Now, putting a stake in the idea of storing nuclear waste 100 miles from Las Vegas has been something the majority of Nevadans have wanted for the past 20 years. Yucca Mountain has been pronounced dead more than once in the past few years, only to come back like a B-movie villain whose hand comes back to grab the heroine by the ankle.

But the absence of any money in Obama's budget to pursue a Nevada nuclear storage site seems more definitive than before. Another clue: The government is going to stop any effort to license the site.

Our Republican governor was "glad the president has finally seen the light."

Our senior senator welcomed the "great news because it not only prevents Nevada from becoming the nation's nuclear dumping ground, it also protects hundreds of communities through which the waste would have had to travel in order to get to Yucca."

For the junior senator, Obama's budget was bash-worthy, but he tossed in a paragraph at the end saying he was glad to see the president "upholding his pledge to close the Yucca Mountain Project."

The county appreciated Obama's attention to Yucca Mountain.

The city of Las Vegas didn't find it worthy of a news release.

But under the category of what have you done for me lately, when Obama's common-sense remarks in New Hampshire hit, the shrieking began. All those who celebrated Obama on Monday were ready to slice and dice him on Tuesday.

Harry Reid was angry. His news release headline said: REID TO OBAMA: LAY OFF LAS VEGAS. "The president needs to lay off Las Vegas and stop making it the poster child for where people shouldn't be spending their money."

Ensign, Berkley, Titus and Gibbons all went overboard in chiding the president.

Gibbons called the president "thoughtless" and "heartless."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Obama responded quickly. "I wasn't saying anything negative about Las Vegas. I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun."

Obama is not defiling our city.

A year ago, when he said banks shouldn't use stimulus money to go to Las Vegas, he was right.

While a couple of examples exist, no one has been able to provide a definitive number of how many companies canceled their Las Vegas conventions and relocated to another city because of Obama's comment in Indiana. Nor is it known how many canceled because the economy was in a free-fall.

How can anyone disagree with the practical premises that you don't blow your college savings on a vacation and banks shouldn't use stimulus money going on a junket anywhere? Using the words "Las Vegas" makes these insults? Get real.

Perpetuating this as a controversy and forgetting the Yucca Mountain victory is sheer nonsense.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.