If you saw the Olympics last night, you might have seen the bold new ad by Al Gore's "We" campaign:
Today, the "We" Campaign launched a new national television ad aimed at promoting the campaign's challenge to repower America -- by generating 100 percent of America's electricity from truly clean sources within 10 years.
The ad, entitled "Switch," (http://www.wecansolveit.org/switch) features Americans of all backgrounds -- rural and urban, blue collar and white collar -- making the change from fossil fuels to cleaner, renewable forms of energy by symbolically "turning on" a giant, 25-foot light switch. Actor William H. Macy narrates the ad.
"America's three great national challenges -- our economy, national security and climate change -- can all be addressed by switching to renewable energy," said Cathy Zoi, CEO of the nonpartisan Alliance for Climate Protection, which is managing the "We" Campaign. "The Olympics are a time for all Americans to reflect on our nation's achievements and what we as a people can do together. Choosing the right path and repowering our nation is something we can do, and something that will benefit us all."
Just as "change" is the key word in this election and mistaking the mood of the electorate helped cost Hillary Clinton and her supporters the nomination, the key word for the next cycle is likely to be "switch" and misjudging the electorate will have the same results.
First, watch the ad and join the 1.5 million who have signed on to the campaign:
In the ad narrator Macy notes, "We all know our country faces tough challenges: a weaker economy, soaring gas prices, growing dependence on foreign oil and a worsening climate crisis." He continues, "We can switch to smarter, cleaner forms of power and take advantage of free energy sources like the wind and sun....The answer is simple: power our country with 100 percent clean electricity within ten years."
"Together, we can repower America," the ad concludes. "Together, we can solve the climate crisis."
That message -- Al Gore's message -- is clearly resonating with voters of all persuasions, but especially Democratic Party primary voters and donors. Which is why it makes no sense for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to oppose the SF Clean Energy Act to switch the city to 100% clean energy.
This is the challenge of our time and history will record those who side with polluters like PG&E against the movement to switch that is growing every day. By the time the Democratic primary heats up, this vote will be as poison as the Iraq War vote (it is no coincidence that the polluters are using the same right-wing tactics the neocons used in their push against the reality-based community).
Yet it is not too late. Every day more and more people are realizing that the time to make the switch is now, the time for bold action is now. Hopefully, Gavin Newsom will have the wisdom to realize the how silly it sounds when he regurgitates PG&E's talking points and will stop and think about what it is Al Gore is saying.
If he needs help, I recommend that his Climate Czar suggest he stop repeating PG&E's misinformation and check out www.WeCanSolveIt.org, because we can. And we will. And we are paying attention to whom 'we' includes.
