Irene

A post on Twitter this morning from a somewhat left leaning moderate (wow, did I just say that?) – “Wondering when calls to update antiquated power grid will begin, and who will 1st ID # of jobs it would create/how to finance it. #irene.” Great question. The power grid feeding New York is an antiquated one as we all should have learned during the Northeast Blackout of 2003. Small fixes aside we largely have avoided the cost and disruption truly building a stable infrastructure would require. Wouldn’t now be a great time to revisit this as part of a larger jobs creation bill? Isn’t this something big and transformational we should be looking to Congress and the President to deliver? Or do we just keep holding on to the patchwork systems that were developed almost a century ago? In 2003 Bill Richardson (Governor of New Mexico at the time) characterized the U.S. as “a superpower with a third-world electricity grid.” Status update? Nothing has changed.
Now that I think about it – this could be an easy win. For #tcot Republicans still handwringing over claims of reckless federal spending a plan showing exactly what federal spending could and should be used for (things like the military and our national power grid) might help them eek out a pathway for a moderate candidate in the next election. For Democrats, Obama in particular, it can be a powerful focal point to demonstrate leadership by bringing to bear the resources and coalition building so desperately needed to create a “newer deal” for America.

Tagged as: #tcot, Blackout of 2003, Irene