I’m really not one to pile on the President for perceived failings. God knows he has a tough job. And after all, let’s remember what the alternative to Obama could be, or what came before.
But tonight’s speech on the oil spill was a real disappointment for those who believe a clean energy future is perhaps the only path to job growth, public health, national greatness, and freedom (from dependence on a ecologically and economically destructive fossil fuels).
The President showed that he gets how big a mess the Gulf is and he’s changing leadership at the agency that oversees the industry. That’s all well and good.
But when it came to reducing the future risk of these kinds of catastrophes, the prescriptions were in short supply. Obama called for accelerating the transition to a clean economy. That’s fantastic. But how can we possibly move fast without a price on carbon? (Uber-capitalists John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins) and Jeff Immelt (GE) said it best in “Falling Behind in Green Tech“)
How could Obama not use this opportunity to call on us to do some hard things? Imagine if he had asked us to use less oil, accept higher prices for fossil fuels, support legislators that make the hard calls (raising people’s gas prices is about the hardest thing a politician can do).
After 9/11, it’s been said many times, President Bush only asked us to shop…and nothing else. Obama seems to be making the same mistake.
He did suggest we need a moon shot to get to clean energy and get off the oil. And he harkened back to America’s ability to build tanks and planes in WWII. But those examples of American success are 40 and 70 years ago.
What’s scary about the speech tonight is that it almost could’ve been any President in the last four decades. They’ve all sat in the Oval Office and said ‘never again’ and ‘we’re going to find a new energy future.’ And yet, here we are, using more fossil fuels than ever.
In the end, the President suggested we all “pray” for courage and the people of the Gulf.
It’s truly a shame that that’s the only thing he asked us to do.
4 Responses
Beautifully summarized! Whatever happened to the “hope” embodied by the campaign?
I’m convinced that many would do their part with the right inspiration and call to action. See, for example, this call for “shared responsibility” in Thomas Friedman’s sunday NYT editorial: http://nyti.ms/cnITOB
I was stuck in traffic in the UK recently (where gas costs $8 or so per gallon) and watched business men in suits turn of their engines and push cars along a few feet at a time to conserve fuel.
Since when do we have the inalienable right to idle?
Agreed! What about a bold statement like “put a man on the moon by 1969” that we can all get behind. Maybe free from foreign oil dependence or even just Reduce fossil fuel dependence by 50% by – 2015??? Would have been a way to really become a leader in this area and become the “new energy president” that he has said that he wants to be. Quite disappointing!
Agreed Andrew. Research from a number of sources all points to Americans’ willingness to be environmentally responsible circumvented by a lack of knowledge and understanding of what they can and should do to help.
Less than half of all Americans have and use programmable thermostats – a quick and easy way to reduce electricity consumption and cost, as well as natural gas if that’s how the building is heated.
Driving the posted speed limit, keeping tires inflated to their recommended pressures, reducing weight in the trunk and carpooling are all ways to directly reduce your oil/gasoline per capita consumption.
There are a myriad of things the President could ask us to do – that people would willingly do. If only he had asked. One doesn’t often get a ‘burning platform’ for change such as the tragedy in the Gulf. The only thing good that could possibly come from this horrific situation would be for it to be that watershed event…
Let us think green! A lot of people were arguing on how to protect our planet and how to make life easier by producing green products. The answer, in my opinion is to start the change on ourselves, Not just because Obama urged us to change, and the rest will follow? The bottom line is we must start the change no, among us.