Will Obama take a transformative approach to energy policy or just step-by-step?

Articles — By forcechange on November 10, 2008 12:00 am

As with all new presidents, Obama will be faced with tough choices on how to prioritize his policies.  There is disagreement as to which would be a more effective strategy– to attack a series of big issues all at once, trying to make transformative change to the system, or to attack things one step at a time, taking a more pragmatic and measured approach?  Either way, it is likely that energy policy will be near the top of his list, after the economy.

Obama has noted, “We can’t afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle class families.”  Obama stated recently that energy independence is his second most important issue, after the economy.

However, it remains to be seen how he will pursue his energy policies.  If Obama wanted to take a measured approach to the issue, the NYT article notes that he “could increase investment in alternative energy as a down payment on a far-reaching climate plan.”  We think, on the other hand, if he wanted to transform the entire issue at once, he could look to the Gore, Pickens, or Google plans as a guide.   

Unfortunately, given the current state of our economy, it seems pretty unlikely that Obama will pursue a policy that involves a cap-and-trade or carbon tax, that would effectively drive up the short-term costs for energy.  Until the economic crisis subsides, we may have to settle for additional tax breaks and government investment.  But hopefully he will not shy away from pursuing transformative change when he feels it is safe to do so.