Rising to the energy challenge

There is a saying that we should be careful what we wish for. That could very well be a warning to Barack Obama as he takes on the mantle of the 44th President of the United States at a time of deepening recession and mounting energy and environmental challenges.

In his inauguration speech, minutes after being sworn in by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, Obama made brief but significant references to the issues he and his administration have inherited.

“Each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet,” he said, adding that meeting the challenges will be neither easy nor immediate.

“But . . . . they will be met,” he promised, explaining that “bold and swift action” by his administration will include a massive infrastructure program. Among other things, it will encompass “the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together” as well as initiatives “to harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.”

Anticipating skepticism, he cited U.S. history, adding that “what the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.”

There was no reference in his speech to prospects for an energy and environmental pact with Canada even though it is expected to be broached when he makes his first foreign visit as President – to Canada in the near future.