Where else but the New York Times?

To the Editor:

The energy bills coming out of both the House and the Senate prove yet again how utterly ineffectual our political system is at really solving the nation’s biggest problems. The bills do not go nearly far enough to wean the United States off foreign oil or fossil fuels. The United States has the resources and technological capacity to do both, but we obviously don’t have the will to make it happen.

What is really needed is a John F. Kennedy man on the moon moment. Barack Obama should make the following statement to set in motion what is needed:

“In 15 years the United States will no longer import any more oil. The United States can become entirely energy self-sufficient using emerging and established clean energy sources, including a combination of nuclear, natural gas, solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels. To help pay for the transition, a simple yet substantial carbon tax will be implemented.”

Oh, I can just imagine the Rt. Hon. Abraham Delano Fitzgerald Mahatma Obama delivering a speech like this!  Especially the “substantial carbon tax” part to generate plenty of smoosh to give to his pet constituencies.