Obama's Efforts

Obama's tenacity with respect to the healthcare legislation was noteworthy. He promised healthcare reform while campaigning and worked at it relentlessly until he got something passed. Whether or not the proposed legislation is close to his ideal is another question altogether.

That being said, it appears that Obama is trying to shift his focus to an energy plan for the U.S. With a new set of nuclear plants going up across the country and with today's offshore drilling announcement, it appears that Obama is making an effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels in the long term and reduce our dependence on foreign oil in the short term. These efforts might also be viewed as concessions to opponents of cap and trade legislation. Hopefully, Obama will hold fast to the concept of Cap and Trade as a key component for helping the U.S. achieve energy independence. The Clean Air Act was effective at combatting acid rain in the 90s using the Cap and Trade model and it should serve as an example of how legislation can have a positive impact at addressing negative externalities, like acid rain or climate change.

For more on today's drilling announcement, here's an article:

http://bit.ly/9XcDmY

For details on proposed new nuclear plant sites:

http://bit.ly/cXIvTs