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After news broke that the Obama administration approved a logging contract in a roadless national forest—even though he'd said he supported the Roadless Area Conservation Rule during the campaign—it occurred to me that I perhaps wasn't keeping tabs on the differences between Obama's campaign promises and actual green progress quite as closely as I should have been. But it's becoming clearer—as it should have been from the start?that Obama's not going to be as environmentally focused as we'd like.
He's played a passive role in climate legislation, hasn't come down on mountaintop removal mining, and he's playing nicer with Big Coal than most environmentalists are comfortable with. So what are we going to do about it? Well, we could try to get his attention by hanging an inflammatory banner over Mt. Rushmore. But if that doesn't work, the least we can do is hold Obama accountable for the green promises he made on the campaign trail.
And a fine resource for doing exactly that is PolitiFact's Obameter. The website's creators have taken stock of Mr. Obama's progress on his various promises from stump speeches, his campaign website, and debate performances, and ranked his performance on completing the task thus far.
For instance, Obama frequently said that he'd work to eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes. A pretty green undertaking, making life a little tougher for the polluting industries—and an idea that resonates well with voters to be sure. So how's he doing? Pretty good on that one—the Obameter has an "in the works" rating, and shows he's around two thirds of the way there. The reasoning is included. From Politifact:
When he unveiled his first budget outline on Feb. 26, 2009, he included a number of measures that would revoke tax advantages for oil companies.
The description continues on, citing the budget amendments that would enforce the aim.
Of course, the vast majority of promises and proposals still have 'No Action' tags next to them—but Obama's only been in office for six months now, so maybe we should cut him a little slack. But we'll be watching.
*There's a new Patriotism brewing in America, and it's got green written all over it: Patriotism 2.0.
More on Barack Obama:
Obama Must Show More Personal Leadership on Climate Change
View and Vote - Obama Green Stimulus Projects
President Obama, Please Live Up to Your Climate Change Rhetoric
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
