All Talk No Game?

On Wednesday I was surprised to see some of my friends who attend Georgetown University to post pictures of President Obama making a speech on their campus. I was even more intrigued by the words written behind him "Winning the Future: American Energy". Now just the title demonstrates the same old rhetoric of creating change for 'future' generations. This speech clearly came at an opportune time for the President

With the Middle East in crisis and gas prices rising sharply because of it, the President needed to address and mitigate fears related to energy policy as they affect the every day lives of Americans. The President needed to connect the events in the Middle East to the American people in some tangible way. The way he went about doing that was focusing primarily on automobiles and the oil industry. Additionally, this has political overtones for his mounting reelection campaign. The President took this opportune moment to deliver a two-birds-with-one-stone speech.

Yet his rhetoric alone cannot change energy policy or the way Americans think about the energy policy. Further relating his message to the American people, the President invoked the economy and a nice jobs report. While the President provides a hopeful message on the future of the environment, his rhetoric is not clearly backed up with concrete action. He seemed to understand the idea of institution change; Stating the nation "has known about the dangers of our oil dependence for decades. Presidents and politicians of every stripe have promised energy independence, but that promise has so far gone unmet. ... We've also run into the same political gridlock and inertia that's held us back for decades. That has to change." It remains to be seen whether anything actually will change