Don't Tax, Don't Pump

PBO DOES THE O BUSINESS JUSTICE: President Obama has effectively driven a stake through the heart of the oil creatures. What’s all the more impressive -- and what I believe may become the heart of his legacy -- is that he did so relatively quietly and without lots of squirming and kicking. 

Similarly to the way that he executed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell changes that have fundamentally improved the military (that’s creepy to say!), the president has issued orders and played out his legislative cards so that our culture is moving away from petroleum consumption towards alternative fuel sources -- as if we’ve accepted that there are all types of viable energy orientations we aren’t afraid to share a bunk with.

This is justice doing in action. Well done, Mr. President.  

The extraordinary accomplishments in this field, as with his directives toward equality on many fronts, weren’t cut out of oily whole cloth. Many helped lay the groundwork over the years, preparing the pump to disappear.

But knowing when to say enough, when to lay down one’s well of treasure so as to get away with it almost noiselessly is good leadership; knowing how to do it without causing the gushers of anxiety that others expect when they are forced to shower naked next to their enemy … that’s hella wella impressive drilling for success.

Go read a book called Blessed Unrest. I’ll let you get what you get from it, then, if anyone asks, I’ll happily give you my take on what it means and why it lead us to where we are, where we should be, and even all the more where we could be in the forthcoming decade. Or at least over the course of the next nine years, right, Madam President?