There is seemingly nothing President Obama likes better than giving a speech. Unfortunately not many folks in the mainstream media seem to take anytime analyzing anything the President actually says, they seem to have volunteered themselves as stenographers as opposed to reporters, so in the absence of journalism I figure it is my civic duty to pick up the slack. I’ve actually been doing this for quite sometime but I have only recently committed to the title.
President Obama payed a visit to MIT this past Friday to give a speech about climate change. The timing of this appearance is a bit suspect, considering the Presidents views on climate change are well documented, but I doubt it has anything to do with the administration’s announcement later in the same day about how the President probably would not be attending the much heralded global waste of time, oh excuse me, I mean global climate summit in Copenhagen.
One thing you will notice is that the President was trying to play it relatively safe at MIT. This speech was also minus the usual plethora of first person pronouns.
“Dr. Moniz is also the Director of MIT’s Energy Initiative, called MITEI. And he and President Hockfield just showed me some of the extraordinary energy research being conducted at this institute: windows that generate electricity by directing light to solar cells; light-weight, high-power batteries that aren’t built, but are grown — that was neat stuff; engineering viruses to create — to create batteries; more efficient lighting systems that rely on nanotechnology; innovative engineering that will make it possible for offshore wind power plants to deliver electricity even when the air is still.”
Sounds really cool. It also sounds really expensive.
“And it’s a reminder that all of you are heirs to a legacy of innovation — not just here but across America — that has improved our health and our well-being and helped us achieve unparalleled prosperity. I was telling John and Deval on the ride over here, you just get excited being here and seeing these extraordinary young people and the extraordinary leadership of Professor Hockfield because it taps into something essential about America — it’s the legacy of daring men and women who put their talents and their efforts into the pursuit of discovery. And it’s the legacy of a nation that supported those intrepid few willing to take risks on an idea that might fail — but might also change the world.”
The President is exactly right about this, it is American innovation that has allowed not only America to prosper but just about all of western civilization. This is the most flattering statement about America the President has made in quite sometime, but Obama is a collectivist he doesn’t believe in the American ideal of individual achievement. He believes in the sacrifice of personal ambition in the name of the state or what he would call “public interest.” Which is why this seemingly innocuous paragraph exposes the weakness in Obama’s own political philosophy.
The great innovators and inventors throughout American history did not take chances or dedicate their lives to the purpose of advancing the U.S. economy, they were driven by their own self interest, even if someone believes that their fruition of their ideas will make society a better place, the engine of their determination was that a better society is advantageous to their own survival, they where not mandated by the state to reach some politically expedient goal.
Which leads us to where the President goes off the tracks,
“That’s why the Recovery Act that we passed back in January makes the largest investment in clean energy in history, not just to help end this recession, but to lay a new foundation for lasting prosperity. The Recovery Act includes $80 billion to put tens of thousands of Americans to work developing new battery technologies for hybrid vehicles; modernizing the electric grid; making our homes and businesses more energy efficient; doubling our capacity to generate renewable electricity. These are creating private-sector jobs weatherizing homes; manufacturing cars and trucks; upgrading to smart electric meters; installing solar panels; assembling wind turbines; building new facilities and factories and laboratories all across America.”
And this is exactly why the stimulus is a failure, these technologies are currently impractical, this is not to say they will always be, but at the moment they need huge government subsidies just to be somewhat competitive with proven energy technologies, this steals money from other areas of the private sector that could have immediate benefit to the economy, I have nothing against alternative energies but the funding for research should be left largely to the private sector, good ideas don’t need government subsidies.
The President then gets a bit defensive;
“The naysayers, the folks who would pretend that this is not an issue, they are being marginalized.”
They are? Has the President been paying attention to the trend of public sentiment on this issue? Bottom line, skeptics are more prevalent than ever, the only one in denial here seems to be the President himself.
“ There are those who will suggest that moving toward clean energy will destroy our economy — when it’s the system we currently have that endangers our prosperity and prevents us from creating millions of new jobs.”
This is a straw man argument, no one suggests that moving toward clean energy will destroy our economy, only that cutting off access to proven resources through legislative stonewalling and massive taxation will. There have been more than 200 significant oil and natural gas discoveries this year alone, many right here on U.S. territory, the technology to extract these resources is highly advanced and environmentally safe, there is no reason to stop development of current resources while researching alternatives.
He then spoke a little about the Global scene;
"From China to India, from Japan to Germany, nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to produce and use energy,"
China and India!? China and India have already rejected the notion of accepting any global emission standards, even more recently China publically rejected the whole premise of man-made climate change and both countries open multiple coal fired power plants every month, the only race they are in is to provide electricity to the tens of millions of people in those countries who currently live their lives in darkness, And wind farms ain’t gettin it done. The Japanese have focused their sights on nuclear innovation which is a powerful and clean energy source that for some reason is a hex sign to American environmentalists. Either way it is difficult to grasp what the president was trying to accomplish with this speech, it had a very pre presidential campaign feel, and overall it was a colossal waste of time.
Anthony D Dolpies
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