SOTU Teaser

(That would be State of the Union)

Kos over at Daily Kos has posted some previewed excerpts from tonight's State of the Union address, released by the White House press office. Here's one:

"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world... The best way to break this addiction is through technology."

That's all well and good. But how hollow will this rhetoric finally be? A couple years back, I seem to remember President Bush trumpet spending on research into hydrogen-powered cars. You sure don't hear much about that any more.

[UPDATE - 5:20pm PST] The London Guardian's news blog notes that tonight's SOTU could indeed show a geo-greener side of President Bush:

In a gesture that will please environmentalists, the president will discuss the need to develop alternative fuels to oil, to which the US is addicted. Bush has been impressed by Brazil's progress in developing ethanol, fuel made from corn, and wants the US to push ahead with alternative sources, especially at a time when oil prices are again creeping up towards $70 a barrel as tensions with Iran grow.

Apparently Bush wants to avoid the more contentious issue of domestic exploration for oil and gas after all the arguments over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and projects that involve federal lands in the west.

But before environmentalists start punching the air, they should be aware that the greening of George Bush comes with a twist. The Washington Post reports that he will make a plug for nuclear energy as well, something the US has shunned since 1979, the time of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.

Still, the fact that Bush is talking about alternative fuels is progress of sorts for someone who has taken an ostrich-like stand on climate change - the science is uncertain let's do more research.

But then, Bush desperately needs to latch on to something positive. For a while he managed to harness his citizens' sense of patriotism by portraying himself as a "war president". Unfortunately, with the war in Iraq not turning out as well as the White House would have wished, that strategy is looking less and less a winner.

[UPDATE - 5:47pm PST] Did a bit of quick googling on that previous SOTU discussion on hydrogen powered cars. Here's what was announced in the 2003 address (via the White House web site - watch out, they might still be tracking you via cookies!):

President Bush announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses with no pollution or greenhouse gases. The hydrogen fuel initiative will include $720 million in new funding over the next five years to develop the technologies and infrastructure to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen for use in fuel cell vehicles and electricity generation. Combined with the FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) initiative, President Bush is proposing a total of $1.7 billion over the next five years to develop hydrogen-powered fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure and advanced automotive technologies.

Under the President's hydrogen fuel initiative, the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by fuel cells. The hydrogen fuel initiative complements the President's existing FreedomCAR initiative, which is developing technologies needed for mass production of safe and affordable hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. Through partnerships with the private sector, the hydrogen fuel initiative and FreedomCAR will make it practical and cost-effective for large numbers of Americans to choose to use clean, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2020.

I'm gonna look around for clues to any movement forward on this initiative, but the SOTU is just minutes away...