The Green Side of the State of the Union

Listening to the State of the Union last night, I couldn’t help but notice that energy has become a hot issue — it was mentioned far more times than most other issues. I checked later on and saw I wasn't wrong — energy was mentioned 23 times, setting a new record (at least for this century) and coming third after jobs/employment (35 times) and taxes (34 times). This is pretty impressive, but still, when I turned off the radio in my car by the end of the speech, trying to digest what I've just heard, I was left with mixed feelings. The reason was that while President Obama spoke about providing strong support for cleantech, he also includes support for dirtier energy resources like offshore oil and shale gas, as part of his vision of developing "every available source of American energy." So he ended up providing both good news and bad news for those hoping he will lead America to a more sustainable future. You have to be naïve if you don’t understand that politics, especially on an election year, is the art of compromise, but at the same time when it comes to energy it seems like it's almost impossible to have your cake and eat it too. President Obama made his energy vision very clear, explaining that "this country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy."