The White House, Washington, DC -- Even though our meeting with President Obama was off the record, I don't think the White House will mind my quoting from his parting message to us when he was asked "What should we tell the world when we get to Copenhagen?"
"The United States is committed to getting this done..."
The meeting was most like a pep-rally for the opportunity that a clean-energy future offers to jump-start the American economy, end our dependence on foreign oil, and rescue the planet from climate disruption.
The group in attendance included environmentalists, union leaders, veterans, and corporate CEOs (some from new, high-tech companies; some from old, established, and yes, polluting firms), but you couldn't have told who was who from what was said. The only major disagreement was a good-natured one between the two utility executives in the Roosevelt Room -- one singing the praises of nuclear power as a creator of jobs, the other sighing and saying, "Well that's where my heart is, but my head tells me that we simply can't afford Senator Alexander's vision of 100 new nuclear power plants -- gas, renewables, and efficiency are simply going to be the future."
My message to President Obama was simple: Your administration has already done far more than any other in American history for clean energy, I told him, and we're profoundly grateful, "but I want my grandchildren to be grateful as well. And for that to happen, you need to take everything you have done and scale it. Since you don't have the kinds of government money that China and India are putting into clean energy, you'll need to leverage the public money you do have. Every dollar of public money needs to unlock ten dollars of private lending to the clean-energy economy -- and so far the programs Congress has given you don't enable you to do that."
As the conversation progressed, there was no doubt that the President was deeply engaged and informed in the challenges he faces in the U.S. Congress, in addressing crippling unemployment, and in the negotiations that have begun in Copenhagen. But on the core question that many have asked -- is he truly committed -- he left no doubt.
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