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Getting Us Off Oil: Barack Obama and the Alternative Energy Presidency

Written by Michelle Haimoff

Friday, 29 August 2008

In his Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech on Thursday night, Senator Obama said:

For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president:In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Getting Us Off Oil: Barack Obama and the Alternative Energy Presidency

Photo: purpletwinkie, Creative Commons, Flickr

Obama went onto criticize McCain's anti-alternative energy record of voting against higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, renewable fuels, and investments in renewable energies. He also pointed out that today we import triple the amount of oil that we had on the day that McCain took office in the Senate.

Obama then stated that as president he will "tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power." He'll also help American auto companies build fuel efficient cars.

He continued:

I'll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy -- wind power, and solar power and the next generation of biofuels -- an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced.

By giving himself a 10-year time frame to get the country off foreign oil, Obama has laid out an aggressive alternative energy plan for the future, on record. That means that he will be directing all the money and resources he can to a cleaner, more sustainable environment, the way Kennedy devoted overwhelming money and resources to getting a man to the moon by the end of the 1960's or the Bushes did to wars against ambiguous enemies in oil-rich regions.

Obama's willingness to hold himself accountable to concrete alternative energy goals proves that he is as serious about the environment as the people reading this site, all of these sites. It means that the environment and the alternative energy movement will define the tone of the country for the next 4-8 years and that, finally, America might take a leadership role in global economy and culture once again.

Obama did not delineate exactly how he is planning to allocate this $150 billion, and questions about the specifics of his plan remain unanswered, but the executive branch has unparalleled power to move the country in a direction that will define its very character and its international reputation. With Barack Obama at the helm we may very well become the progressive, environmentally conscious nation we should already be.

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Comments (2)

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written by Pete , August 29, 2008

Isn't natural gas a fossil fuel just like oil - where we would have to do new drilling, etc - just like oil?

...
written by RM Reiss , August 29, 2008

Obama's speech contained some great, overdue, pointed comments, like this line:

"...[Republicans] call this the Ownership Society...

Well, it’s time for them to own their failure."

Stripping the Republicans of the chance to fail repeatedly with no consequences.

I hope to see Obama in the White House but then see Gore wrestle the "clean coal" fiction away from him.

After not watching much of any speeches, I settled in for Obama and caught Gore's lead-off speech. Gore spoke rapidly and unemphatically. First I thought -- he's phoning it in, maybe to not overshadow the headliner? But he got in a critique of the corporate hold on Washington in a way almost never heard in a major party speech.

"I believe this election is close today mainly because the forces of the status quo are desperately afraid of the change Barack Obama represents...

So how did this no-brainer become a brain-twister?

Because the carbon fuels industry -- big oil and coal -- have a 50-year lease on the Republican Party, and they are drilling it for everything it's worth...

The party itself has on its rolls men and women of great quality.

But the last eight years demonstrate that the special interests who have come to control the Republican Party are so powerful that serving them and serving the national well-being are now irreconcilable choices."

The rest here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/gore.transcript/

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Michelle Haimoff
		About the author:
		Michelle Haimoff is a native New Yorker living and writing in Greenwich Village. She has written for Profile Magazine, L Magazine and Eyewitness Travel Guides.
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