Once Bush Is Gone, Change Will Come

So far there hasn’t been a presidential candidate that has indicated they plan to raise energy taxes or discuss oil with Tehran. Every candidate has ties to a self-interested energy sector (meaning coal, ethanol, or nuclear energy). Even after the election the issue of energy security is so complex and such hard choices would be necessary that any president (and most members of Congress) will want to avoid the issue.

Whomever is our next president, he or she will have advisers who will be cautioning about the risks of committing to aggressive energy goals. Those advisers will say that a president can appear to be forward-looking on energy with just a few carefully chosen initiatives.

They will tell the president that the voting public’s biggest energy concern is high prices for gas and home heating. As long as the president appears to be concerned about these issues they can cover their political bases without necessitating sacrifices.

The pressures the next president will face will be huge. We can only hope that by the time of the next inauguration the energy economy will have reached a point where platitudes are no longer enough. It’s time to plan a “controversial energy policy.” It’s time to ask voters to make sacrifices. It’s time to push America out of its self-absorption and into a sustainable global energy position.