Marita Noon: Mr. President, what about a campaign-style push to talk up America?

Commentary by Marita Noon - One of the unique roles of the executive is to be a cheerleader for his/her individual state—or in the case of the President, for his country.
      This is, perhaps, best exemplified by Texas Governor Rick Perry who, as ABC News puts it: “has made a campaign-style push in states like California, Illinois and Missouri by hosting business meetings and appearing on TV and radio shows to promise low taxes and incentives for any businesses with an itch to relocate.” InJune, Perry was in New York and Connecticut “to woo firearm manufacturers and other companies.” He launched a $1 million ad campaign in New York touting low-tax Texas, with a variety of Texans praising their paradise.
      Imagine if President Obama had done this—instead of an apology tour.
      He’d air ads in Germany encouraging them to buy American coal—after all, ours is cleaner burning than theirs (and Germany is very concerned about the environment); we have plenty of it (especially since we won’t be using so much after his policies shut down coal-fueled power plants); the price has dropped (while natural gas has gone up); they can get it from a friendly supplier (unlike the natural gas and coal Germany gets from Russia); and most importantly, Germany needs it (and apparently, he thinks we don’t).
      Thanks to Obama’s policies, we are prematurely shutting down our coal-fueled electricity generation—with the idea that we can replace it with wind and solar. Germany is prematurely shutting down its nuclear-powered fleet. It has already tried to go with wind and solar—with a goal of producing 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050—but it is not working out so well. Since 2011, when Chancellor Angela Merkel launched the energy revolution, or Energiewende, designed to wean the country off of nuclear and fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions have gone up; the average price of electricity for companies has (according to the Wall Street Journal’s [WSJ] August 26 report) “jumped 60%” and are now more than double those in the U.S.; and, as nuclear plants are closed, they are being replaced with coal as “intermittent renewables alone” can’t “replace nuclear power and provide round-the-clock supply.”
      Germany’s story is a shock to many who see it as the model of “green.” Read full column

Marita Noon: Mr. President, what about a campaign-style push to talk up America?