President Obama's energy speech on Wednesday at Georgetown University continues his middle-road approach to reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The president called for a mix of left-leaning approaches -- greater production of biofuels and higher energy efficiency standards for heavy trucks -- and right-leaning approaches -- greater use by oil companies of federal onshore and offshore drilling leases.
The problem may be that this approach isn't really satisfying either side. But this may reflect his political calculation that it is better to risk alienating both core Republican and Democratic constituencies in hopes of keeping the vast, moderate middle in his camp. These, he hopes, are largely independent voters, with enough Democrats sprinkled in to maintain a majority of support for the course he's following.
The conservative Heritage Foundation commended the president's call for more domestic drilling, but says the administration's actions haven't matched its rhetoric. The administration needs to "stop dragging its feet" in approving new leases in places like the Gulf of Mexico, Nicholas Loris of the Heritage Foundation said, with no mention, of course, of last year's BP oil spill there. Needless to say, Loris is not high on subsidies for biofuels and electric cars. Electric cars, high-speed rail and similar initiatives are expensive "pet projects," Loris maintains, while biofuels subsidies will only hurt consumers and taxpayers.
On the left, the U.S. PIRG called one day before Obama's speech for a freeze on the construction of new nuclear reactors and a suspension on re-licensing of the oldest plants in the nation, in the wake of the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan. In his speeach on Wednesday, Obama acknowledged the new nuclear safety concerns caused by Japan's crisis, and said he will commission a review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure the safety of this country's reactors. But he also said he remains committed to building a new generation of nuclear power plants in the U.S. It's all part of the political calculus.
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David Kassel
Accountable Strategies Consulting
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