If there’s one thing you can say about President Obama it’s
that he certainly hasn’t given his erstwhile fans on the left a shortage of
things to keep scratching their heads over. One of the biggest perennial question
marks hanging over his administration has been his failure to lead on clean
energy – and not just politically by working a bill, but symbolically by
finally fitting the White House with new solar panels to replace the ones that Carter put up and Reagan took down. Of course, while
he may be able to blame congressional politics for his lack of follow-through
on the policy side of things, there really doesn’t seem to be any clear excuse for
his symbolic failure. Why wouldn’t he put solar on his roof? Sure, he hasn’t
done much to promote a solar tech revolution, but he certainly likes to talk
the stuff up, and he’s has never shied away from doing a photo
op at a PV manufacturing plant. So what gives?
Well, for one possible answer let me take you back to asimpler time. The year was 2008, the Democrats had already initiated theirretreat on offshore drilling policy, and a stupidly grinning Rudolph Giuliani stoodat the podium at the Republican National Convention and uttered thewords that would go down as one of the most memorable and moronic politicalcatchphrases of all time – “drill, baby, drill!” The crowd, as you may recall,reacted with all the bawdy, hootin-and-hollerin enthusiasm of a Jerry Springeraudience watching a guest take her top off.
The sexual connotation of the phrase was definitely not anaccident. “Drill, baby, drill” was much more than a juvenile campaign slogan.It was a pretty explicit effort to genderize energy politics. It succinctlydescribed the Republican Party’s perspective on energy production as an inherentlymacho, dominant activity. For the most part, Republicans tend to see energy assomething that should be obtained by brute force – by blowing up mountains, bydrilling, or better yet by “extreme” drilling: in the arctic, a mile below theocean’s surface, in the middle of a war-torn country. That, according to theGOP, is how powerful leaders and powerful countries get their energy; not bypassively waiting for the wind to blow or the sun to shine. Only liberal wimpswould do that. It even explains whytheir preferred carbon-free form of energy is nuclear – atoms are after all themost powerfully destructive force we’ve ever gotten our hands on, and the possibilityof meltdowns only make things more hardcore.
Seen from this perspective, Reagan’s decision to rip Jimmy Carter’ssolar panels off the roof of the White House makes a lot more sense. From Reagan’spoint of view, the oil crisis had made America go all soft on energy policy andhe was going to changethat. Desolarizing the White House wasn’t just a financialdecision; it was a powerfully symbolic act. It was Reagan’s way of saying“look out world, the big guns are back in the House now – there’ll be no morepassive reception of energy under my watch. We’re going to flex our geopoliticalmuscles and go out and take all the energy we need by force, if necessary.”
And herein may lie the true secret to Obama’s reluctance onthe solar panels. There’s a good chance he’s just worried that if he goes solar, FoxNews and the GOP leadership will try to pin him with their tired caricature of Carter: a weak one-termer who doesn’t havethe macho, rigid, unyielding, unthinking, world dominating resolve thatRepublicans so pride themselves on.
Well, sorry to break it to you Mr. President, but the rightis alreadydoing that anyway. And you’re not going to escape the sophomoric tauntingby trying to hide from the bullies. You deal with bullies by standing up tothem. You’ve got to be ready with some snappy comebacks to shut those moronsdown: tell them that real leaders approach energy policy with their brains, notwith their drill bits. Tell them that powerful countries don’t have to abusetheir Mother, or steal their children’s future to get their energy. Use yourown bully pulpit to let everyone know that despite all their drill-baby-drillmacho posturing conservatives are just covering up for their impotent energy platform.
Putting those solar panels back on the White House andmaking a big show of it would be a good way to get started. Hold a pressconference up on the White House roof in front of a glistening array ofready-to-be installed solar panels. Tell the nation that you’re ready to reallyget to work on clean energy and climate change, then roll up your sleeves forthe cameras and help fit a panel in place. Heck, as an added up-yours to theconservative hecklers, bring President Carter along – show them that you’re not afraidto stand beside him, or to stand behind his prescient approach to energypolicy.
And if you do it thisOctober 10 – the day of 350.org’s GlobalWork Party - a coalition of more than twenty fantastic organizations will be there to get your back. We’re already planning on showingup at your place that day with a gift of solar panels, and we’ve alreadyinvited President Carter. All you have to do is join us to show the bulliesyou’re not going to take it anymore.
Of course, once you’ve gotten to work symbolically, you’llhave to get to work for real – championing strong climate policies. But takinga tough, principled stance on energy has got to start with the solar panels.Carter knew it. Reagan knew it. It’s high time you figured it out too. Becauseif you can’t even mange symbolic energy leadership, it’s hard to imagine whereyou’ll ever find the courage to lead on the issue for real.