Henry VIII’s decision to dissolve hundreds of monasteries was a revolutionary act by a monarch spouting the need for monastic reform. What this despot with outsize appetites could not have foreseen is that by selling off the monks’ land, he opened it to market forces.
In short, Obama’s decision on Keystone was driven by the hoary old theory that the U.S. needs to model good behavior for other countries in the hope that they will emulate what we do.
