Greg Pollowitz : Chu's Nobel isn't all that helpful
Chris Matthews Discovers Chu's Nobel Isn't All That Helpful
Of course, we pointed that out in February of 2009 , when we quoted from an MSNBC “First Read” item:
Energy Secretary Steven Chu may be a Nobel laureate Ph.D. in physics, but his first forays into energy policy suggest he's a neophyte when it comes to the ways of Washington. At a forum with reporters on Thursday, the head of the department that has traditionally taken the lead on global oil-market policy, was asked what message the Obama administration had for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at its meeting next month. ”I'm not the administration,” the Cabinet secretary replied. “I will be speaking and learning more about this in order to figure out what the U.S. position should be and what the president's position is.” Chu, who is still without a deputy, said he feels “like I've been dumped into the deep end of the pool” on oil policy. The day before, reporters asked him about OPEC output levels after a speech to a group of utility regulators. He responded that the issue was “not in my domain.” Later, in a conference call to reporters, he said his answer reflected “more of my naiveté than anything else.”
And here's Chris Matthews last night skewering President Obama's speech :
I thought a couple of things were surprising to me. Why does he continue to say that the Secretary of Energy has a Nobel Prize? I mean, it's almost gotten ludicrous. We had Carol Browner do it again tonight. I know I`ve mocked him for doing it, saying I'd barf if he did it one more time. But it's not important. This meritocracy has gone too far. This, they've named the new guy here, the head of MMS. I'm not sure whether these degrees are going to help or these awards from overseas.
But it's worse than that. All of Obama's talk on knocking heads at MMS is a lot of hot air. As we noted at the end of May , the head of MMS was more worried about the passage of the Cape Wind project off of Massachusetts than anything else.
So you have a Nobel winner who knows nothing about oil running the Energy Department and you have an environmental lawyer who knows nothing about drilling as the head of MMS, the oil-drilling regulatory body.
Back in 2009, I joked ( mocking Joe Biden ), “Gird your loins. President Obama's energy secretary just found out he's in charge of America's oil policy.” Turns out Biden was right.
Greg Pollowitz is a political junkie who lives in New York City and is the founder of iQ Venture Partners, Inc., a private equity investment bank that specializes in early stage companies. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.
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Petroleumworld News 07/20/2010
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