No doubt about it -- Obama has inherited a lot of serious messes to clean up. With an eye on the big picture, rather than all the details, we might examine his priorities in terms of the following categories:
- The economic mess: the stock market meltdown, the housing market collapse, unemployment, credit crunch, etc.
- The war mess: Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, India/Pakistan, etc.
- The civil rights mess: illegal wiretapping, torture, Guantanamo, politicizing DOJ, etc.
- The environmental mess: global warming, energy policy, habitat destruction, species loss, etc.
It may be too early to make any assessments of his priorities, but we do have some evidence to consider: his cabinet selections, his first few press conferences, his Inauguration Address, and his first week in office. Based upon this early evidence, it is my contention that so far Obama has given the environment less attention than any of the other big picture issues. Of the four major priorities, in other words, it looks like the environment is coming in last.
I think the case can be made that he's got his priorities exactly upside down in ths respect. As important as the economy, the wars, and civil rights may be, the environmental issues are so urgent and so enormous they trump all the rest. Moreover, the other issues depend in many respects on the environmental solutions. Certainly our economic and Middle East policies depend crucially on energy policy, which must be governed by environmental considerations above all.
Do you agree Obama has so far made the environment the least important of the four big issues? Do you agree he's got his priorities upside down in that respect?