Carter was right, Reagan was wrong
by David Atkins
It's little more than a symbol and a political statement, but symbols and statements are still important. Given the mockery of Jimmy Carter by odious conservatives for doing likewise, the White House putting solar panels on its roof is an excellent statement:
As with trickle-down economics and all else, Reagan and all his coterie were just plain wrong when they weren't explicitly venal and corrupt. Putting solar panels on the White House was the right move to encourage greater adoption of renewable energy in the 1970s. It's the right move now.
With little else to accomplish realistically over the next three years, there are increasing indications that the Obama Administration is going to look at least partially to climate change as a problem it can begin to deal with in some ways outside the scope of Congress. The smart money says the Keystone Pipeline is all but denied, and the Administration has been ramping up its climate rhetoric over the last few months.
Assuming this is genuine concern from the White House (and since climate change isn't a big poll driver, there's little reason to assume it isn't genuine), it's the right play for a President concerned about his place in the history books.
Future generations will come to despise the conservative establishment of the day just as most reasonable people despise the Confederates, the Hooverites, the McCarthyites and the Nixonians today. Future generations will also very likely look with 20/20 hindsight and see that climate change was bar none the most important issue of the early 21st century.
Getting this one right means getting it right for the history books. Validating Carter over Reagan is just the cherry on top of the political sundae.
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