Friedman Finally Gets It
Thomas Friedman is on the trailing edge of the obvious. In his new book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” he finally figures out that the economy is driven by energy, not by politics. And, that we’re way behind on addressing our energy problems.
I’ll give him faint praise in that Friedman isn’t a pollyanna merrily denying any problems with our energy infrastructure. But I’ll take that back by saying that his thesis in this book is neither original nor very perceptive. While he highlights incidents and particular stories, his prescription is the same thing that others have been writing and saying for many years now.
Nice that he’s finally caught up.
He takes the Bush administration to task for essentially not defining a useful energy policy, yet doesn’t recognize his own culpability in his early support of that administration. He also thinks that McCain’s has “the right instincts” on energy policy despite McCain’s almost total agreement with the Bush administration.
I’m guessing it’ll take Freidman another five years to figure out that he was wrong on that one too.