Yes We Can (want change)

by Katrina Rhodes

Environmentalists everywhere are celebrating with President-elect Obama.  I'm a skeptic.  I would absolutely love to see the man make all these changes that would so drastically alter American environmental damage, carbon emissions, depletion of natural resources, hazardous chemicals in our air, etc.  However, how much authority does he really have?  The only thing we can be sure of, without a doubt, is Obama is a politician.  And he has not been one long at that, so there's not much track record to go by.  Like all candidates of both parties, the election is a time to preach a string of actions that sound great, even when Congress really is in control of most of those items.  His agenda is certainly worthy, but you know as well as I, that the economy will be first, then the war(s), then civil rights if California does not "solve" the prop 8 ordeal to please everyone (and really, we can't please everyone).  So increasing the use of alternative energy usage by 80% over the next years… where is that going to fit into the agenda?  Even McCain's goal of 60% won't happen, but they can both use those statistics because the idea is to optimistically lie to their constituents until the White House is secured and reality can be addressed.  Superfund still has about one thousand sites on the list but the program is not moving forward now (no $).  Bush decreased Clinton's air quality policies with the Clear Skies Initiative, another example of making something look good when in earnest, it decreases environmental protection.  Until America has unlimited funds, no enormous national debt to repay, and the need to increase that debt by paying back trillions to banks that screwed up, I don't see the environmental agenda being first on any president's agenda, no matter how truthful Obama was being in his green goals.  That's right… it's possible he really did want to change that much and would have worked to gain Congress's support to make such changes, but given the reality he is being handed in January, it doesn't even matter what he wanted anymore.  Economy will come before environment.  That's just how the world must work.