Did you read that title, whoa, looks like some sort of Obama bashing right-wing crazy is up ahead. Don't worry, I only think he's chasing it in one regard, the newly announced Energy Policy, and his failure is that its not Progressive enough.
Today President Obama's Energy Czar Carol Browner announced that by 2016 we will raise the standard of American fuel economy to a minimum of 35.5 miles per gallon.
A milestone to be sure of, lauded by the morning talking heads, at least Joe Scarborough was on board. And that's when it hit me, if me AND Joe Scarborough think something is a good idea, well, I don't ever agree with Morning Blow. So I started to think, why did this idea seem really good and yet is so stupid that Morning Hole would think it a good idea.
Then I realized, I own a car right now that averages 35-40 miles per gallon, costs less than 10K, was built in 2008, at purchase only had 500 miles on it, and has an excellent safety record. Then I remembered it was built in Korea. I love my car, it gets me where I want to go, has plenty of space, sips gas, and requires very little maintenance. Its a simple no fuss machine that does its job well. When I needed a new car I had a few criteria, because of my finances and how much I need to commute for work. It just so happened that KIA makes a car that pretty much perfectly fit my criteria, if it had been built by Chrysler or Ford, I would have bought that.
But all of this is a bit beside the point, we've set the bar for failure. We set a goal to, in seven years, be where Japan and Korea are today. Do we expect them to sit still? If we are going to set a goal, why not set one with some hope of actually making a difference, of putting America back on top of the industry. The other more insidious part of this is its a commitment to continue using fossil fuels until at least 2016.
If we want to regain our place as the bastion of innovation and industry, we need to migrate from fossil fuel driven cars to electric. I didn't always believe this, but after seeing this talk by Shai Agassi I think we can do better, be bolder, and innovate a brighter future.
We've heard for years from the right that we can't put too much pressure on the auto industry or "terrible things"TM would happen. Well, as is par for the course for the right, they were dead wrong. Keeping the pressure off the industry, keeping emission standards lax, allowing the auto industry to self-regulate had a similar outcome to allowing the financial industry to self-regulate, unbridled disaster. This republican myth of self-regulating industries is foolishness, and to continue to give them air time as though they aren't the snake-oil selling alchemists that they are, is perverse.
We need bold progressive leadership to point us to the way forward. These baby steps and feel good, do nothing policies only further a placation we can hardly afford. Sure we all feel a little better, but without discomfort we will never change our ways, we will continue to be that frog in the pot, as the economy and the environment turn up the heat little by little until we are cooked.