Obama's Minimal Solution for Healing the Earth

Barack Obama once announced that he would stop the rise of the oceans and heal the earth. In response, his then rival Mitt Romney told Americans: Obama promises to tame the oceans, I promise to help you and your families. That already says everything about America’s relationship with protecting the climate.

Nowadays Obama doesn’t speak like a messiah anymore, but like a president who uses his — very narrow — leeway. He is finally forcing America’s stone-age energy industries to clean their dirty furnaces at least a little because he doesn’t need Congress’ approval for this.

From an international perspective, that is of course much too little and much too late: If Obama wanted to be a role model for the world, he would have to limit America’s notorious waste of resources in a much harsher manner.

However, Americans still live in a different era than Germans when it comes to climate matters. For many, “protecting the environment” sounds like “destroying jobs.” It’s only now that the economy is picking up that Obama sees even a little bit of space for his minimal solution. He will have to fight the industry over every regulatory limit; in the end the courts will probably decide. Seen like this, Obama may be content if he leaves behind any legal regulations at all at the end of his term. The earth still won’t be healed that way.