I noticed something this week- Obama has started to throw more money in the direction of the green energy initiatives. What was just a few hundred million dollars in his State of the Union speech across the entire industry is turning into multiple promises of billions of dollars. This most recent one is to extend a manufacturing credit by $5 billion to help create more private investment in clean energy. That is serious money, and I hope that Silicon Valley and the rest stand up and take notice. Obama will not be handing out money like this to clean energy forever- I believe in his political savvy, and I know that he is doing it as part of a larger plan around the BP crisis. He will include moves like this in some sweeping statements come election time:

“When we were doing everything we could to clean up the mistakes of the past in the Gulf, we were also doing everything we could to change the future- whether that meant $8 billion for a new nuclear plant in Georgia or $5 billion in tax credits for manufacturing and to create more private investment. And it worked. We now have”… yadda, yadda, yadda.

He’s that good.

And it’s an extension of something else that he included in his wildly unpopular stimulus and emergency recovery program. He has to defend every step of the way against Republicans who are upset that he is dealing with the mess that George W. Bush made of our economy by spending money to create economic activity. Somehow, I have a feeling that this is exactly what the Republicans would be doing if they were in power. Tax credits are what they like, as opposed to creating cash, so they should actually be supporting this kind of a move.

"Providing an additional $5 billion in manufacturing tax credits will not only help leverage an additional $12 billion in private capital investment in ready projects, but also create tens of thousands of additional clean energy manufacturing jobs across the country," said a White House official.

That sounds rosy- but tens of thousands? I’ll believe that part when I see it. What about the whole weatherization project for the urban areas? I don’t get why that isn’t happening with bells on. What about the national contests that Google or Microsoft could hold for green innovation because they have so much money. Or even Facebook. Guys, we are clearly not pulling out all the stops here.

But we are making progress. Obama finds it politically safe enough to make a $5 billion move in the summer before an election. And that kind of money will make a difference. I look forward to hearing Obama do more and talk more about clean energy, and I can’t wait for him to give the wrap-up speech at the end of his 8 years in office, talking about how what started as a few hundred million that first fall has flourished and blossomed into 1/3 of the national economy, or something. You know, I’m a dreamer.

Photo Credit: Tracy O