Let's Roll
" And now, I wish Al Gore were president."
January 2, 2002
The New York Times
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
A ll hail to President Bush for
how he has conducted the
war against Osama bin Laden.
Mr. Bush has emerged a far
better commander in chief than
anyone predicted. In the war on
terrorism he has shown steely
resolve, imagination, leadership and creativity. Thank you,
Mr. Bush.
And now, I wish Al Gore were president.
Why? Quite simply because instead of showing resolve,
imagination, leadership and creativity on the domestic
front, Mr. Bush has done just the opposite. He has tried
to use the tremendous upsurge in patriotism,
bipartisanship and volunteerism triggered by the tragedy
of Sept. 11 to drive a narrow, right-wing agenda from Sept.
10 into a Sept. 12 world. It's wrong. It won't work. It sells
the country short and it will ultimately sell the Bush
presidency short.
I have no problem with nation- building in Afghanistan,
but what I'm really interested in is nation- building in
America - using the power of Sept. 11 to make our
country stronger, safer and a better global citizen in the
world of Sept. 12, beginning with how we use energy.
But so far, all that's happening is that we've made the
world safer for Saudi Arabia and OPEC to raise oil prices
again. In case you missed it, last Friday the Saudi-led
cartel cut production by 6.5 percent to boost oil prices,
while the world is struggling to get out of a recession
induced in part by the terrorism of Osama bin Laden and
15 Saudi hijackers.
Frankly, the thought that U.S. taxpayers, who have had to
bail out the airline industry (which was devastated by
Sept. 11 and by higher gas prices) and to finance the $1
billion-a- month war against bin Laden, will now have to
pay more for oil because the Middle East regimes we're
protecting want to hike the price, is an outrage.
You'd think maybe the king of Saudi Arabia would say:
"America, we're as upset as you that Osama bin Laden
and 15 Saudi youth were involved in the terrible attack on
your shores. So we want to help America - the engine of
the global economy - recover, as well as the developing
world. As such, we're going to keep oil prices extremely
low for the next six months, then we'll slowly lift them
back to the $24-$28 range. It will cost us, but that's our
tax cut for the world."
Is that too much to ask? Well, it seems so - which leads
me back to President Bush.
The most obvious bold national project that Mr. Bush
could launch now - his version of the race to the moon -
would be a program for energy independence, based on
developing renewable resources, domestic production and
energy efficiency. Not only would every school kid in
America be excited by such a project, but it also would be
Mr. Bush's equivalent of Richard Nixon going to China -
the Texas oilman weaning America off of its dependence
on Middle East oil. That would be a political coup!
It would also be Mr. Bush's best response to foreigners
who are enraged by America's refusal to join the Kyoto
treaty to stop global warming. Mr. Bush could say that by
weaning America away from oil gluttony he would be
doing more for the environment than Kyoto ever would,
which would greatly improve America's standing as a
global good citizen.
There are lots of ways Mr. Bush could go. "Today one out
of every seven barrels of oil produced in the world is
consumed on American highways," says the respected oil
consultant Philip Verleger. "We could cut that by a third
in five years if Washington were to offer tax incentives for
manufacturers to produce more efficient vehicles and for
consumers to buy them. Such tax cuts could be paid for
with a higher gas tax, gradually phased in. Then we could
replace all those American flag bumper stickers with ones
that read: `I cut my oil use by a third, how about you?' "
I don't want to be dependent on Mideast oil anymore.
Countries in that region haven't had a good century in
700 years - and they're not going to soon. Oil is their
curse, as well as ours. It's corrupted their rulers, enabled
them to keep their women backward and out of the work
force, and prevented them from developing innovative
economies that make things instead of just take things
from the ground. They have a lot of homework to do before
they will be stable allies.
We will all benefit if they succeed, but for now we have to
look after ourselves. So, Mr. Bush, "Let's roll." Ultimately,
presidential greatness is measured by what you do at
home. If this war on terrorism ends with nation-building
only in Afghanistan and not in America, it will be no
victory at all.
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