Energy Moonshot: What are you going to do for your country?

It's not just up to Obama

I've been very cynical in recent days. It seems so many believe that President Barack Obama is going to save the world, or at least America. But is such an expectation even fair?

Do we really need Obama to, ultimately, save us from ourselves?

We blame Bush for Iraq, for instance, yet if we, the people, hadn't been driving gas-guzzlers for decades, would war in Iraq have ever been possible? Yes, I know that's overly simplistic, but Americans - as the worlds greatest consumers - have to accept responsibility for how consumerism affects the world.

Unfortunately, however, we live in an age where auto unions call buying foreign cars un-patriotic, even though the American-made cars they make require the unsustainable consumption of war-causing, terrorist-supporting, foreign oil.

The hypocrisy in America is endless.

Fortunately, however, for the first time in decades, we have a President that is epitomized by change. Thanks to Obama, change is in the air. It's believable and everywhere. Equally as important, we have many in Congress ready to spend trillions on change.

But is that enough?

Perhaps the real question should be, are we, the people, ready for change? Can we, the people, even expect great change without being willing to commit to great change?

Thus, instead of just focusing on what Obama can do for us, on this historic day, we should focus on what we can do to help Obama achieve change. This is our moonshot, as the citizens of the world's most important democracy, to prove that choice isn't always made by what's good for us as individuals, but what's good for all of us, as humans.