Barack Obama’s Priorities
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama recently participated in an anti-global warming rally in California during which he said that few of the nation’s problems were more urgent than global warming. To his credit, Obama tossed in a throwaway bit about dependence on foreign oil, too. But if that particular speech can be taken at face value, the soon-to-be-inaugurated president’s priorities are wrong.
Perhaps Mr. Obama didn’t heard about the whales trapped in the fast-moving arctic ice north of Baffin Island. Meanwhile the siege in Mumbai continues with over 100 now known to have been killed. Is the debate over global warming really that important?
Regarding Mumbai, CNN had Deepak Chopra on the air yesterday and while I’m loathe to put much stock in the Love Guru’s arch-rival, he did raise important, oft-asked and oft-ignored questions [emphasis mine]:
…who is financing this? Where is the money coming from? We have to ask very serious, honest questions. What role do we have in this? Are our petrodollars funding both sides of this war on terrorism? Why are we not asking the Saudis where that money is going that we give them? Is it going through this supply chain to Pakistan?
It’s pretty obvious that the answer is yes. It has to be, even if only through the trickle-down effect of the Saudis’ oil money distributions.
That’s where the national priority ought to be, squarely on developing domestic energy sources. Doing so would have the beneficial effects of deflating the artificial importance that oil-producing countries have in the world while ensuring a stable energy market at home on which business decisions can be made.
With respect to Michael’s opinion that oil-producing countries deserve special consideration vis-a-vis the economic shock that a move away from petroleum might create, I don’t think that’s true. It would do the much-beset-upon youth of Saudi Arabia, et al, good to lose their cash cow so that they must learn to compete in a world in which the value of their ideas earns them their livelihoods rather than geological happenstance. In the end, it’s up to oil-producing countries to pursue a political and economic course that maximizes and safeguards their long-term position, not their consumers.
That same long-term perspective must be applied to the problem of man-made C02 emissions. President-elect Obama should realize that, given that the U.S.’s natural resources point to coal and nuclear, it may be the case that the country’s pollution problems - and investment in nuclear energy - actually need to increase over the next few decades while research into efficient, sustainable clean energy sources continues.
Marc, you’re entitled to say that Obama is wrong in his priorities (though I disagree) but calling him on saying this is a priority based partly on what’s happening in Mumbai is not at all fair. His statements were made on November 17th and the Mumbai problem has been going on for less than 24 hours.
Obama has repeatedly tied in the need to address climate change with the state of the economy. Not only does our dependence on foreign oil threaten our national security, it also leaves us vulnerable economically. Developing green technologies, including green energy and manufactured goods, can lead to badly needed economic growth.
Coal is great and all, and yes, we have a lot of it, but it cannot be the only focus. It too is a fossil fuel and will eventually disappear.
Thus, we must have an all of the above approach. Yes, that includes nuclear power.
Though I am a strong supporter of developing renewable sources, they are imperfect. The sun isn’t always out to power solar panels, wind turbines can only be put in certain areas, etc.
But they are a necessary part of the energy equation. They should not be the sole focus, but they shouldn’t receive lip service, either.
Big article in WSJ today that talked about how more and more money that the US is borrowing is coming from Japan AND THE MIDDLE EAST now that China is souring on their US investments.
Unfortunately the money the US is funneling to the Middle East doesn’t stop at oil anymore…
And I agree with Michael we need wind, we need the sun and we also need to evaluate nuclear energy further.
Speaking of Barack Obama:
Barack Obama is a racial-minority individual, and in his heart and mind he inevitably does not endorse hate crimes committed by George W. Bush.
George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).
George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.
And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.
Many people know what Bush did.
And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.
Bush was absolute evil.
Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.
Bush is a psychological prisoner.
Bush has a lot to worry about.
Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.
In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
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I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.