A closer look at Pelosi’s position on energy, offshore drilling, and ability to lead

August 26, 2008

In our post yesterday, we wondered whether Pelosi’s position on offshore drilling was born out of an attempt to craft a comprehensive solution, or was mere political gamesmanship.  Looking more closely at her interview on Meet the Press, and specifically her response to Tom Brokaw’s questioning about the Al Gore Ten Year Plan, the more it seems that she is not going to provide the legislative leadership necessary to affect real change in our energy policy. 

At one point, Brokaw asked Pelosi about Gore’s proposal to get all of America’s electricity generation off of fossil fuels within ten years, and whether she supported it and thought it could be accomplished.  Pelosi gave a rambling response that went from mentioning a House bill that would move 15% of electricity to renewable sources by 2020, to blaming the “Senate obstruction of the Republicans in the Senate” to the Democratic platform of getting 20% renewable energy by 2025 to some weird story about a Republican “war dance of the handmaidens of the oil companies on the floor of the House a couple of weeks ago.”

Now, in order to actually accomplish something as transformative and revolutionary as Gore’s proposal to revamp the entire means of electricity generation in our country, we need serious and inspirational leadership.  This feat is akin to sending a man to the moon or building the interstate highway system.  Yet, instead of providing confidence and proactive leadership, Pelosi can barely articulate a plan and then simply blames the Republicans for our current situation.  A real leader wouldn’t make excuses, a real leader would present solutions. 

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