“The deeper the river, the less noise it makes.”
We are pretty screwed. I get the impression this is going to be way worse than we think. I have seen a few links with some alarming chatter such as this one, this one, and this one by my friend David. I don’t know where the truth lies, but things are certainly worse than we are being told.
I watched Obama’s Oval Office address. I wanted to be impressed. I kept imagining what Bush’s response would have been so that I’d feel better about Obama’s. But it was weak, and the weakness of it was underscored by watching what Rachel Maddow would have said if she gave the speech. Rachel got it right. That’s what we need. Obama didn’t offer anything bold. I don’t want him to stop the oil spill, and I don’t think he can. I want him to use this exceptional moment as an opportunity to really change the way we think about energy and the planet. This is not only “the oil spill moment”. This is “the climate change moment”. We don’t just need to change BP. We need to change everything. He sat there making the nation feel like somehow things are OK and things will go on being the same and we will make some investments in renewable energy and there’s no cause for alarm. Screw that. WE NEED MORE ALARM. I want him to ban drilling, turn GM into a company that only makes trains and windmills, demand a gas tax, and maybe punch Jim Inhofe in the face for good measure. Yes, this nation needs to feel hope after the oil spill, but making us feel like “things will be OK” feels dishonest and counterproductive. Realistically, we need hope and leadership delivered with an emotional tenor that feels more like this:
Our civilization can survive, but first we need to abandon the illusion that standing where we have been standing is safe. Now is the time to leap off the cliff. We’re going to a place we’ve never seen before.
