Obama, Energy, And JFK

That's the comparison Americans United for Change draws in a new TV ad, supporting energy reform and investments in green energy sources: JFK sent a man to the moon, and President Obama wants to start a green revolution. This is how green energy was posed on the campaign trail--as a new NASA or Manhattan Project. We haven't heard as much of this rhetoric since Obama took office (with his focus held on health care and the economy), but now it's back, as cap-and-trade legislation is actually being crafted in the House. The ad paints energy breakthroughs as progress, and Republicans as only standing in the way--but it is also a reminder, to anyone who may have forgotten, of the vast ambition that has been promised on energy and the stated goals of a sweeping, national effort to reinvent it.