President Make Believe

The politics of climate change are excruciatingly difficult. Do we make heroic efforts (involving more regulations, subsidies or energy taxes) to curb emissions when any U.S. decreases would have only a tiny global effect? Barring major technological breakthroughs, influencing climate change seems difficult, if not impossible. There aren’t yet sufficient practical alternatives to a heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

Why are Americans so disillusioned with politics? One reason is that our leaders — and this applies to both parties — often create narratives that seem uplifting and convincing only because they are completely detached from underlying realities. These fantasies transcend routine rhetorical flourishes and self-serving exaggerations and simplifications. But sooner or later, the realities assert themselves. People grasp that they’ve been misled. They feel betrayed; there’s a backlash.

The job of the president is not merely to inspire. It is first and foremost to inform — to help people see the world as it is, not as they wish it to be — and then to craft policies based on that understanding. Barack Obama is so confident of his rhetorical powers that he violates such self-restraint. In his speech, he casually mentioned “hard choices” but didn’t say what they are; he offhandedly acknowledged that combatting climate change will be “long” but didn’t say why. His make-believe assumptions sound good but will have a short shelf life.