McMaster takes on Obama

Henry McMaster is in the zone.

The attorney general's office is beating up on Internet predators and Craigslist, defending California college students and fighting against health care reform. This man issues an opinion on everything these days, and it's inspiring.

There's just one question: Who told Henry he's running against Barack Obama?

The state AG and Republican gubernatorial candidate on Tuesday expressed his severe displeasure at the president's decision to shut down the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada before it even opens -- something Obama has said he would do for more than a year.

That's fine, but it seems McMaster has been weighing in on every decision out of Washington of late.

Somebody needs to tell him that he's got a governor's race to run. We haven't had a chief executive who sounds like Foghorn Leghorn in decades -- South Carolina is depending on him to restore the natural order.

Right now, he needs to be focused on his opponents: Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, Congressman Gresham Barrett and state Rep. Nikki Haley. There are reportedly some Democrats running, but no need to worry about that, Henry.

This is South Carolina, after all.

Science, bah humbug

McMaster's rebuke Tuesday was joined by S.C. GOP Chairman Karen Floyd and Jenny Sanford's estranged husband. They are all asserting the state's right to dump nuclear waste on other folks, and they say -- gasp -- that politics is at play.

Fair enough. There is a long-standing plan to do this, states have been paying to build the facility, and Yucca Mountain is in the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (the guy with the 59-41 Senate minority).

Getting Nevada out of the nuclear waste management business before it starts might help Reid's re-election. But with friends like that, why does Obama need Jim DeMint?

Then again, haven't the Republicans been wringing their hands about excessive government spending? Well, the U.S. has poured billions into a facility that is 12 years behind schedule, didn't really have an opening date and may not have even contained the waste. The Dems say the science is suspect.

Yeah, right. Who's going to believe a politician who claims the science is shaky on something they don't understand?

Pick your time -- fast

So easy on the Obama bashing for the time being -- Republicans can only go to that well so many times. Save Obama for when you're running against him, the general election.

But do it quick. In three more years, if the economy is still in the tank, voters might decide that the problem has not been the president but the people who have blocked every initiative he's proposed -- good, bad and worse -- through cowardly parliamentary procedure.

Nah, that's just crazy talk. So, go ahead Henry, bash away. It won't hurt your gubernatorial bid.

This is South Carolina, after all.