I read somewhere recently (likely reddit) that this could likely be an election year strategy to vilify the opposing party, as Congress will likely shut this down.

That ties them, and the party to support of non-renewable energy sources, which are not exactly popular among voters(there might have been a specific demographic attached to that, but I'm not certain).

Even if this turns out to be the strategy, I think your idea about a commitment to US jobs would only help- not sure why he didn't do that..