Obama Oval Office speech: ‘Not nothing’

Reaction to President Obama’s first speech from the Oval Office this week has been swift and decidedly negative, except, perhaps, from some in his own party who want some type of energy reform. For instance, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had this to say:

President Obama presented a path to energy independence in his speech tonight that strengthens our economy and protects our environment. He made a compelling case that America cannot delay our pursuit of a national clean energy strategy that makes us more competitive globally.

And Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) issued this statement:

This could be a historic leadership moment. President Obama used his first-ever Oval Office address to call for the passage of comprehensive energy and climate legislation. There can be no doubt that the president is rolling up his sleeves to ensure we establish a market mechanism to tackle carbon pollution, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs each year, strengthen energy independence and improve the quality of the air we breathe. We will continue working with colleagues from both sides of the aisle to pass comprehensive reform this summer.

Everyone else, for the most part either thought Obama was too openly political in mentioning his energy plans (Michael Steele) or didn’t go far enough. Rachel Maddow went to so far as to stage her own mock speech outlining what Obama should have said but didn’t:

I no longer say that we must get off oil. We will get off oil, and here’s how. The United States Senate will pass an energy bill this year. The Senate version of the bill will not expand offshore drilling. The earlier targets in that bill for energy efficiency and for renewable energy sources will be doubled or tripled.

But the problem here is that such a bill probably wouldn’t pass in the Senate because of moderates. Obviously, Maddow is quite progressive, and while I may agree with her on some points, the president’s approach to look toward some type of energy reform in the near future, however nebulous at this moment, is the right one, while Maddow’s approach, noble at times, takes it a step too far to stick realistically at this juncture.

Back to the point, Newsweek, using headers like “Disappointed,” “Betrayed” and “Perplexed” outlined numerous opinion writers’ negative opinions on the matter.

But here I come to a post by this blogger, who, after enunciating many criticisms to the speech, also laid out a few positives Obama spelled out during the speech:

So what three policies did Obama choose to call out individually?

Some have suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in our cars and trucks. Some believe we should set standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power. Others wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the high-tech industry does on research and development — and want to rapidly boost our investments in such research and development.

I could be reading too much into this — “some believe” and “others wonder” aren’t exactly cris de coeur — but these words were chosen carefully. Normally Obama’s energy pitch includes ritual nods to “clean coal,” nuclear power, and domestic drilling. None of those made an appearance last night; it was only energy efficiency and renewable energy. That strikes me as a deliberate (and welcome) message to the Senate about what Obama wants on the energy side of a bill.

That’s hardly enough to salvage the speech, of course. But it’s not nothing.

And well, if conservative Dems or Reps are dissatisfied with the direction of the speech, what other direction could it have gone? The progression from talking about lessening the damage from the spill to points on generally preventing such a thing in the future, and further, on getting us, once and for all, off of oil in the first place, seems to me to be the logical progression the speech should have taken, as it did. But, let this point not be lost: Maddow’s thoughts, however much I may want it to be a reality in the future, will not be a reality in the near present. We have simply too many folks in power with much to gain from the status quo to make that vision happen.