Style Over Substance - Solar Panels At The White House

President Obama made a big show this week of installing solar panels at the White House, calling it a "commitment to lead." It's not. It's feel-good political symbolism masquerading as a real energy policy. One could almost feel the prickly sweater of Jimmy Carter descending over the White House as news of solar panels gracing the roof of the residence, as they once did in 1976, was announced Tuesday. Back then, Carter made symbolic gestures like installing panels and wearing sweaters to set a personal example for conserving energy, while ignoring the shortages, gas lines, rationing and inflation that came with high energy prices. Inexplicably, the current president is copying him. But in reality, the panels remain costly, and experts estimate the White House installation to cost $100,000. A price tag like that means such panels will remain a rich man's plaything, no matter how much they demonstrate a commitment to green energy. In the White House case, the panels also represent politics. Democrats have been desperate to enact a green agenda as midterm elections approach, having failed repeatedly as their proposals collided against economic reality. So instead of grinding the economy to a halt with an economy-killing cap-and-trade law, for now the White House will have to do with its symbolic solar panels. As harmless as this symbolism may seem to some, it amounts to a substitute for a real energy policy. The symbolic act also amounts to a planted flag for the radical green agenda instead of an energy agenda that serves the people...more