Obama's "All of the above" energy strategy doesn't add up

   In the State of the Union address on Tuesday night (2/12/13), President Obama touted his "all of the above" energy strategy.  First he talked about clean energy sources like solar and wind, and the need to protect future generations from climate change.  Then he talked about efforts to expand gas and oil extraction to keep prices low for consumers.
   Fact is, if you are going to expand gas and oil extraction and use (and the resulting CO2 emissions) then there is just no point in developing solar and wind, because gas and oil wash out the savings in CO2 emissions that are the purpose of clean energy.  It is like hiring a crew of workers to take all the hay bales out of your barn, and then hiring a different crew of workers to put hay bales in the barn at the same time.  Renewable energy isn't just a veneer that a country puts on to "look good" or develops an industry in so that they can get more market share than other countries (like China).  It has a real economic, ecological, and security purpose, and needs to be done right.
   What we need instead is an "orderly exit" from fossil fuels.  The president should know something about orderly exits, since he oversaw one from Iraq already and is now overseeing another from Afghanistan.  The exact details can be worked out, but one fundamental pillar is that you work only with the fossil energy sources you have now, and wind them done systematically, at the same time ramping up renewables and efficiency.  And not adding even more, cheap fossil energy sources.