Even on the most basic level of p.r., president Obama's reaction to the oil spill is a spectacular fail. The recently released images of him walking around on a Louisiana beach, squatting down to peer at oil-stained pebbles, shaking his head and patting clean-up officials on the arm convey the image of a strangely passive leader.
You would think that someone on his media team would have realized that there needs to be at least an image of the president of the United States of America in command during a crisis, maybe telling someone what to do, or pointing at the horizon...or something. I mean, this whole thing was a photo op, right? Photo ops are created to send a message. Why convey the message that the leader of the free world is just as dazed and confused as the rest of us?
Maybe to distance himself from the whole mess? Or to subtly let us know that corporations like BP are the real movers and shakers in this world, and that the president of the United States is just another passive spectator, whose only real job is to have his picture taken squinting at oil-soaked pebbles?
Perhaps the message they were trying to convey is that the president cares.
This is just pitiful. In the administration's attempt to keep the worst oil spill in American history at arm's length, they are causing Obama to be more stained by the mess than if he was standing knee-deep in the muck trying to scoop up the oil in a bucket. Not only are we helplessly watching an entire eco-system being destroyed by a non-stop oil geyser 5000 feet beneath the surface of the ocean, but the political self-immolation of the greatest hope of a generation.
This country is literally crying out for leadership in this crisis. The fouling of the Gulf of Mexico is not merely an ecological and economic crisis, but a moral one. It calls into question just what kind of people we are, what we value and what we don't. And there is only one person who can speak to the soul of the nation: The President.
And the fact that he is shrinking from that task, whether it is because he doesn't have the personal or political courage, or because the president of the United States no longer has the authority to actually do anything in a corporatized power structure, it is just making things worse. Not only do we have to grieve over the unimaginable (and continuing) damage being done to the Gulf; we also have to grieve over the loss of our ability to respond, as a people, to crises.
This is a terrible, terrible fate to befall a people. And all the more terrible because, unlike the spill itself, it is unnecessary, and has such a clear solution. We need somebody to look us in the eye, accurately and unsentimentally lay out the problem we face - and give us a vision of the solution. Not a solution for capping this particular leaking oil well (that's obviously a job for engineers and scientists). But a solution to the underlying problem that made this spill inevitable in the first place. That's the job of a leader.
Since President Obama seems, so far, incapable of articulating such a vision for our people, I have humbly written a rough draft of the speech he needs to give. I call it a rough draft because there are so many things I don't know and am unqualified to address. There are many blanks to be filled in in this speech. But I know this much: we are Americans. And we Americans are a can-do people. It does not come naturally to us to look on passively when disaster strikes. So here's my version of the call to arms the president needs to issue at this moment in our nation's history:
My fellow Americans, the time has come to address you on the issue of the continuing catastrophe taking place in the gulf of Mexico.
It now appears that all efforts have failed to stanch the flow of oil from the blown-up well. We are, indeed, facing an unprecedented ecological and economic disaster. None of us foresaw the dire consequences of an uncontrolled oil spill 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. Though BP will be held to account for its responsibility for this terrible event, it is a time for all of us to stop and re-evaluate the risks we have undertaken in our search for oil. It was never anyone's intent to destroy an entire ocean for the sake of oil exploration. When the United States of America began approving the first permits to drill for oil in the Gulf, and elsewhere, it was with the understanding that technology existed to deal with a worse-case scenario. It now turns out that such a technology does not yet exist – and may never fully exist for the extreme conditions faced more a mile below the surface of the sea. Drilling permits would never have been issued if we, as a people, thought that a catastrophe like the one that is now unfolding was possible.
It is time, therefore, as a moral people, to re-evaluate our energy policy. I know that I speak for all Americans when I say that we are willing to pay any price and bear any burden to assure that our sacred resources, such as clean air and water, are protected. Only a deeply demoralized and depraved nation would choose to put its thirst for oil over the life-giving bounty of its homeland. Such a nation could not long prosper, just as no individual can be successful in the long run by sacrificing his or her own long-term well-being for short-term gain.
Our forefathers and mothers sacrificed much to make this great country what it is today. Through war, depression and natural catastrophe, Americans have responded in every age to challenges foreseen and unforeseen. We overcame a deeply divided union and abolished the evil institution of slavery in the Civil War; we survived the Great Depression and transformed our nation’s economy with The New Deal; we defeated the threat of world-wide authoritarianism in World War II. In the 1960's, president Kennedy challenged us to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade – and, indeed, the rest of the world watched in wide-eyed admiration as an American became the first human being to walk on the moon in 1969.
Now it is our turn to be tested by events. We have faced many challenges since I was elected president 16 months ago. From the near-collapse of our financial institutions to the crisis in our health care system, as well as our continuing military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, my administration has been busy trying to steer our nation back onto a path of progress and prosperity. But none of these crises impacts our lives as directly as the ecological catastrophe now taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. We are now being confronted, in the most vivid terms, with what our addiction to oil is doing to us. It is as if we are an alcoholic surveying the wreckage of a terrible accident caused by our own recklessness. This is our moment of truth. We must change our behavior, or we will die. Our addiction to oil has not only caused the devastation we see in the Gulf; but if left unchecked, threatens the eco-system of the entire planet.
The good news is that we do not need oil to survive. There are already other sources of energy that can be tapped to run our economy. They are not yet mature enough to displace oil as our primary source, but with the proper incentives and nurturing, they can put us on a sustainable course to a balanced economy.
The transition to clean energy is not going to be cheap, and the transition away from our dependence on fossil fuels is not going to be easy. It is going to be expensive and uncomfortable and entail much sacrifice on each of our parts. But we are Americans. And America can do whatever it puts its mind to doing. That is who we are as a people. Our grandfathers and grandmothers paid a heavy price in World War II so that we could live in freedom today. Do we owe any less of a debt to our own children and grandchildren, to leave them a world of clean air, fertile soil and bountiful oceans? As I look at my own two beautiful children, Sasha and Malia, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind about what kind of sacrifices I am willing to make for their well-being. I am sure that every parent and grandparent feels the same way.
So today I am announcing that by the year 2025, the United States of America will run on 100% clean energy. We are going to throw every resource at our disposal into this struggle. Our car companies will re-double their efforts to make electric cars. Our electrical engineers will start immediately working on a national electricity infra-structure that will make re-charging car batteries as easy as pulling into a filling station is today. The government will subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles with a 100% tax deduction.
We have many differences of opinion in this country on any number of issues. I know that not everyone will agree with the measures I am now proposing. I am also certain that entrenched interests will fight against the transition to clean energy with every resource they’ve got. Ands it’s true: they’ve got the money to muddy the waters of right and wrong and make this transition harder than it has to be. That’s why I’m going to need your help. Because you’re all I’ve got. The entrenched interests may have the money, but I’ve got you, the American People. It was the people of the United States of America who elected me to be president, not the united corporations of America. Though the Supreme Court has given corporations unlimited rights to spend money on political campaigns, they have not yet given corporations the right to vote. As long as that is true, it is the American people to whom I answer, and whom I will represent, with every ounce of my strength, intelligence and being.
My fellow Americans, this is the fight of our lives. I welcome it. As should you. Because a great future awaits a people bold enough to envision it and make it a reality. That future is ours, because that is who we are: the citizens of the United States of America.
Thank you. Good night and God bless America.