Barack Obama is going to speak here in Berlin in a few hours trying to beef up his “foreign policy” experience and show the people in America that he is the man that can put American back on the global pedestal that it has fallen from over the last few years. As an American citizen I have been waiting for Mr. Obama to solidify his policy issues and take a stand for something, even if it does not satisfy the needs of everyone and I am still waiting. You can read his website for his series of grand policy ideas and concepts, but there is no substantial backing for the implementation and running of these policy issues. So I thought I would introduce you to one of his policy issue areas, energy.

Barack Obama, in his greater “Energy Initiative”, is promoting a decrease of carbon production by 80% by 2050.  By doing this, he is towing the line of the environmental lobby groups, another component in his “handbook” for change. Next he is promoting the use of biofuels as a means to end our dependency on foreign oil, and wants to decrease our overall oil consumption by 10 million barrels a day. He wants to invest into clean energy technologies and the production of Clean Coal technologies. He is against the use of Nuclear Power because of the environmental hazards. So once again, I ask where is the money coming from that will garner all of these advancements? He wants to decrease the US’s dependency on foreign oil and decrease our oil consumption by 10 million barrels but biofuels, and solar and wind energies are not enough to decrease our consumption of foreign fuel.

So what other sources of energy should be used to meet the demand and needs of the American people? If he promoted the use of Nuclear Power he would then have the justification for promoting the use of plug in stations for electric cars.  As it is, where is the extra electric power going to come from? Global warming policies are in the end just a huge tax increase on the people in the form of carbon taxes, gas taxes, etc, and if people think that only companies will feel the tax burden then they should take Econ 101 to understand the system. The company will pass the tax to the consumer in increases in prices on products or the decrease in employees or benefits because the company has to make a profit somehow. This is a feel good policy with no real substance or meat behind it. If Obama had substantial ideas that included increased drilling in combination with an increase in R&D for clean energy technologies then I would consider his policies.  Unfrotunately, he does not have this in his pocket. This policy is good on paper but not in practice and that is what worries me the most.

Mr. Obama has great policy ideas and plans for the future but he seems to side step the current needs of the people. The economic and oil crisis facing the US and Europe can be helped in an immediate fashion ,but people are unwilling to see other solutions because of some environmental issues. People like Mr. Obama seem to miss the forest for the trees because they are so focused on small details that they forget about the big picture and what other factors are involved in the success of their goal. He will not discuss the consequences of his policies to introduce the cap and trade system into the American market and what it means for the consumer. He will not talk about the looming increase in the gas tax that many Americans will face in an effort to curb demand on oil products. It is sad that the American people are so excited about not having George W. Bush as their President anymore that they have put blinders on to what Barack Obama truly represents for America, its people, and their future. I read an article that I would like to mention and I wish I would have thought of this idea first but I did not. The author wrote that Barack Obama is like the housing market in the US, he is a bubble waiting to burst with no real substance behind to support all of the proposals that he has told the people he will implement when he becomes President. I just hope that the bubble bursts well before the election so that the American people can see Barack Obama for who he truly is.