" Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold."
This is a huge can of worms that is in danger of going terribly off topic, but I will try to remain strong and keep this about the environment. The caveat to this is policies can have a domino effect and will eventually set a precedence that will effect other issues. Before we jump into Obama's environmental promises, um I mean policies, allow me to share my connection to the Obama administration. I not only voted for the man I campaigned for him. In fact on Yom Kippur night my husband and I were at the Democratic headquarters writing postcards to registered voters in Lawrence County asking them to end a Republican controlled White House while we were waiting to break our fast with granola bars. So I feel my feelings of disappointment are legitimate. That being said let us begin.
As I do research on this topic I am struck with a sense of misunderstanding when I look into Obama's position on the environment. It seems that energy policy has now become synonymous with environmental policy, and this is where there is a butting of heads between environmentalists and Washington. The funny thing is Obama has actually kept some of his campaign promises, however he is doing it in a way that many feel is not sustainable. For example his promise to reduce carbon emissions "Calls for cutting U.S. carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Would accomplish this through a cap-and-trade system that would auction off 100 percent of emissions permits, making polluters pay for the CO2 they emit." (grist.org August 22, 2008), however it now seems the way Mr. Obama wants to reduce CO2 is by using nuclear power and has stalled on cap and trade according to politifact.com. To be fair he did talk about using nuclear during his campaign and is working on seeking safe disposal of nuclear waste. The problem with his love affair with nuclear is that it isn't sustainable because even though there is an endless amount of Uranium-238 the waste it generates can not easily be stored and requires additional resources plus people are scared of it. When I looked into the White House's position on energy the website refers to energy independence as a form of national security "Today, we export billions of dollars each year to import the energy we need to power our country. Our dependence on foreign oil threatens our national security, our environment and our economy. We must make the investments in clean energy sources that will put Americans back in control of our energy future, create millions of new jobs and lay the foundation for long-term economic security." and in effect that's why we need more off shore drilling I had to chuckle remembering Sarah Palin's "Drill baby drill!" slogan and saw how in his attempts to come more to the middle he is in effect going way past middle and all the way right completely alienating his base, most of whom are environmentalists. However there are consequences to that kind of talk and are they worth it? The base mobilized and pounded the pavement turning undecideds into voters and now he stands watch while one of the worst environmental catastrophes takes place and underestimates it, "The Obama administration lost the public trust and may have sabotaged clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico by grossly underestimating the amount of oil gushing from BP's broken Macondo well, according to a White House commission appointed to investigate the spill.
In a scathing critique of the administration's handling of the disaster, the two co-chairs of the commission yesterday said government officials made a serious blunder by releasing early estimates of the spill that were about 60 times too low." (Guardian.co.uk) Drill baby drill? or Kill baby kill?Additionally the big rub a lot of environmentalists are feeling is Obama's appointments such as Ingnacia Moreno who was nominated to be the head of environment division of the Department of Justice, raising many eyebrows at the EPA since she is a former attorney for GE. By the way according to opensecrets.org GE contributed $499,130 to his campaign. Now I'm not naive enough to believe that lobbyists don't get jobs in Washington, but wasn't putting an end to that another campaign promise.
Now does the executive branch have the power to really do anything close to all of Obama's campaign promises? No, at least it's not suppose to. Under the constitution the Congress is the one with the real power, however President Sweetie Pie is finding a little loop hole around that pesky Congress, "representatives of the people" *psh*. Mr Obama has his czars, they'll do the work he wants with out all those cumbersome checks and balances. "Senator Byrd wrote a letter to President Obama in February, criticizing the president’s strategy of creating czars to manage important areas of national policy. Senator Byrd said that these appointments violate both the constitutional system of checks and balances and the constitutional separation of powers, and is a clear attempt to evade congressional oversight."(opengov.ideascale.com ) So this has huge consequences not only for the whole nation, it in effect could lead to a dictator, but it also could put a corporate lobbyist in a serious position of power to rule over environmental issues. Now czars have been around for a while such as the drug czar but by some counts Obama is up to 16 and this is scaring the crap out a lot of people, tea anyone? A president is suppose to keep watch, steer the boat, and keep everyone calm while the Congress does all the heavy lifting, but many feel he is inciting panic by behaving like he's the daddy that knows how to handle all of our problems. To quote Men in Black (and how often can you do that) "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. " We ran under the banner of change and we wanted change, change from the corporate interest wiping their ass on our constitution and destroying the natural beauty or our nation. Did we get it? Under Mr. Obama I don't think so.
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
-Leonard Cohen