Obama’s Crisis of Leadership on Energy
It’s no surprise we keep hearing that the President can’t catch a break on energy. He campaigned on promises to free us from the bonds of our foreign oil addiction and launch a new wave of economic development with investments in clean, green power. As a long-shot presidential candidate in October 2007, Obama called out the energy problem as he saw it:
“The truth is, our energy problem has become an energy crisis because no matter how well-intentioned the promise – no matter how bold the proposal – they all fall victim to the same Washington politics that has only become more divided and dishonest; more timid and calculating; more beholden to the powerful interests that have the biggest stake in the status quo.”
Remarks of then Senator Obama, Portsmouth, NH, Oct 2007
With Obama in the White House, our energy problem is now a crisis in failed leadership. This week, while the President kowtows to our financiers in Asia, his people in DC are trying to control the damage from his Keystone XL punt and preparing to send Secretary Chu to the Hill in defense of the disastrous Solyndra loan guarantee. So while his backers may trill that he “can’t catch a break,” it’s time that we all recognize that the President has repeatedly fallen short on his energy promises because he hasn’t begun to sketch out a comprehensive policy on energy.
In March, the White House released the “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future,” a thin, piecemeal summary of ways government intervention will fix high energy prices and send Americans back to work. The suggested series of regulations, standards, and handouts paints in broad strokes the President’s inherent distrust in the private sector and his proclivity to appease supporters with government incentives. We face serious energy challenges as a country, and it’s clear that Obama isn’t prepared to let American markets solve them.
This morning in the House Natural Resources Committee, Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) asked Interior Secretary Salazar whether his department collaborated with the EPA on regulations related to energy. Not surprisingly, his response was muddy. While Interior (slowly, lethargically) works to open America’s lands and waters to new development, the EPA (rapidly, unceasingly) works to make fossil resources harder to explore, develop, and burn.
If the President wants to start leading on energy, there are a few steps he should take today. He should approve the Keystone XL pipeline as proposed and push 13,000 jobs and $7 billion into the economy. He should overhaul the energy loan guarantee process and protect the tax payer from the liabilities of foolish and corrupt bureaucratic decision making. He should drop today’s push for strict, arduous CAFE standards and start empowering the auto industry to look at alternative transportation fuels. Most importantly, President Obama needs to see how beholden he is to the powerful interests of his political supporters and get his government to quit playing favorites and stay out of the way of safe, forward-looking development of domestic energy.
