Time and time again these last several months, I’ve asked myself why the Obama administration wasn’t making better use of the grassroots movement that elected Obama in 2008, to make the push for a climate and clean energy bill. While the president still has a long way to go to truly display the leadership needed to pass a climate bill this year, it looks like the Obama may finally be taking the first hesitent step toward harnessing the incredible power of progressives across the United States. This is our chance to make sure Obama gets it: US voters are ready for clean energy and a cap on carbon.
This morning I received an email, doubtless blasted to thousands of people across the country who at one time or another showed their support for the Obama administration, asking me to “stand with [President Obama] today in backing clean energy.” According to the email, which was signed with the president’s name:
Today, we [the US] consume[s] more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but have less than two percent of the world’s oil reserves. Beyond the risks inherent in drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth, our dependence on oil means that we will continue to send billions of dollars of our hard-earned wealth to other countries every month — including many in dangerous and unstable regions.”
Obama is almost starting to sound again like the candidate who ran for president in 2008, trumpeting the shift to a clean energy economy as his number one priority. The email goes on to point out that curbing US dependence on dangerous fossil fuels like oil means making a concerted shift towards clean energy and energy efficiency. To be sure, it’s not perfect - conspicuously absent from the email is a commitment to including a cap on carbon emissions as part of any broader energy strategy. But Obama is starting to talk the right way again, and he needs a signal that people support him in this. Please help by signing the White House Clean Energy petition here.
It seems reasonable to assume this petition isn’t simply an attempt on the part of the White House to gain support for Obama’s energy plan – though it certainly is that. We can also expect the president will use the level of support the petition receives to gauge just how hard he ought to push for a climate bill this year. By flooding this petition with signatures, we can show him where youth across the country stand. This is an opportunity to show Obama his response to the BP Gulf oil spill must include a long-term commitment to clean energy and a shift away from fossil fuels, and that he’ll have the support of progressives in pushing for that goal.
There are few things I’d rather see show up in my Inbox.
I hate to sound jaded but I am not sure how serious this email is.
To me it seems like just more talk. I know I know, anything is good, sure, we will take it but I hate just being used.
My thought on this goes,
Don’t they already know that this bill would have overwhelming support?
I know it could be a matter of showing them with a piece of paper, which might actually be important, but I thought all this stuff is on the table.
Why are people happy now that Obama might be listening and finally harnessing the power of his organizational force.
It is obvious that now that all the damage is done, i.e. finance, war without our input, reaching out to us now seems a little too late.
I think that the progressives would be better served if they were angrier and smarter.
You think Rham cares about you guys?
Hi jasondylan,
I certainly share some of your frustration. As I said in my post, I’ve been waiting a long time for Obama to start reaching out to progressives this way, and he still has a long ways to go to make good on his fine words about clean energy. Yet I think a part of holding politicians accountable is acknowledging it when they do something right, and pressing them to act when they begin to talk. Obama will really deserve praise only if he follows through and makes a major, wholehearted push for a climate bill this year. And I see this petition as a way to show him that he’ll have our support if he does that.
Again, I suspect the White House petition is as much about gauging how strongly progressives feel about climate legislation as it is about collecting support for any particular energy agenda. There are several progressive movements clamouring for Obama’s attention right now. Some of these, frankly, may be better organized on a national scale than the climate movement is at the moment (and more power to them!). Our challenge right now is to show that a climate bill is just as urgent a priority as other progressive issues.
Right now the president and leaders in the Senate are testing the waters, trying to decide which issues deserve the bulk of their attention. If they offer us a simple way to show that progressives across the country will rally behind clean energy and a cap on carbon, I say we should seize the opportunity. Only then will words be translated into action.
You are very right OBAMA should use the incredible power of the progressive people …I will add also , that he should use the more incredible power of the university student which are more in command of the modern world , because that is from where the dangerous tools of modernism at any cost…originated ?