The big headline winner out of the President's State of the Union address Tuesday night is his line that, "America is addicted to oil." It was really touching to see our Texas oil man/President stating something that has been said over and over again since the 1970s by Republicans and Democrats alike. Sadly, not a heck of a lot has been done about our dependence on foreign oil. Every time the prices go up, we all yack about it and get really afraid and decide the world is coming to an end and Americans are going to have to live in the dark rubbing sticks together and then all of the sudden, prices go down and everyone forgets. I would hope that the Democrats have the mind to keep this issue at the forefront for more than a few day or weeks at best right now. I really hope that the democrats do more than just keep this issue in the forefront but instead choose to capitalize on this important issue.

The other night in his speech, the president basically said that all we gotta do here in America is spend a few extra bucks and invent some stuff. Not once in his entire section on energy independence did the President ask for sacrifice. Yes, we have to work hard to increase energy independence through innovation but we must also conserve energy and sacrifice a little. That means less SUVs, taking public transportation, not sleeping with the TV, better standards on fuel efficiency and the list goes on. Jacob Weisberg notices this lack of asking for anything relating to conservation from our favorite conservative, "Conservation measures like fuel-economy standards and dedicated taxes can plausibly serve all three of his objectives, but Bush has a quasi-religious aversion to conservation and taxes and didn't so much as refer to either." (story here)

As noted in this Washington Post story:

The single biggest step that Congress could take to reduce our oil dependency is to significantly increase the fuel economy standards of the cars and trucks that Americans buy and drive," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which works on environmental issues.

I am truley surprised by the fact that the President does not once encourage any sort of conservation or sacrifice on this issue. Because the president is clearly not serious about this issue, I think that the democrats have a very real issue to put out a far ranging energy independence plan of their own. This plan can relate in part to greater innovation in the American economy as well as less problems relating to oil and the middle east. Lastly, any sort of solutions to out big appetite for foreign oil will be geared towards greatly improving the conditions of our envrionment. For all these reasons, the democrats could frame this issue into a big winner for them.

As the following policy papers from the Progressive Policy Institute point out, Green technology can drive the economy

In such ways as green buildings which, "use power and other natural resources far more efficiently and generate less pollution than buildings simply constructed to comply with local codes." In another article, the PPI discusses:

Our once-pioneering laws and policies made us an early leader in the field. But we now find ourselves being beaten on a wide range of environmental technologies, from the wind turbines and photovoltaic panels used to convert wind and sunlight into electricity, to the hybrid engines that power automobiles on a combination of gasoline and electricity. Indeed, the United States is the only developed country that has managed to reduce the average fuel efficiency of its automobile fleet for over a decade -- an incredible technological feat, but not one that deserves emulation.

Ultimately, Energy independence is a strategy and an issue that Democrats can use to move forward and make our party the leader in years going forward. We cannot afford to be beat on this issue.