The All-Consuming Nation Imperiled

Abstract

This chapter focuses on what the author calls the Obama dilemma (muddied and muddled by the advent of Donald Trump): how, or do we, sustain economic growth in the era of global warming? It argues that George W. Bush failed substantially to identify the vital issues facing the United States during his presidency. Rather than mire the United States in unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he needed to recognize the perils of climate change, US dependence on Middle East oil, and growing debt in the private and public sectors. Obama, by contrast, confronted all those issues, only to have the oppositional politics of Mitch McConnell and other Republicans. They sought to destroy his presidency even if they damaged the nation in the process. It concludes with a look at fracking as it shifted the geopolitics of energy while threatening to complicate the issue of greenhouse gas emissions.