One of the most influential men in the United States came to Baltimore last week to speak at an Associated Jewish Community Federation event Tuesday.

Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, is known for asking the tough questions to wanna be presidents. But, on Tuesday, he did something he doesn’t do on his Sunday morning TV program: he gave his opinion on world affairs.

Speaking to a mostly Jewish audience, he advocated for a lot of different things and spoke of the important of instilling values and character in our children. He asked us to do that by leading by example.

He also spoke about the importance of acting now to ensure Iran doesn’t develop nuclear weapons. Russert said that the U.S. faced a “big decision” about how to handle the Islamic nation that supports terror. The moderator who’s interviewed almost every U.S. leader and learned a little along the way thinks sanctions and diplomacy are crucial. Why shouldn’t, he asked, talk with our enemies.

Russert echoed his “good friend Tom Friedman” columnist for the New York Times, suggestion that we needed a Manhattan project for energy independence. Again, he challenge the audience as to why Democrats and Republicans; Liberals and Conservatives can’t agree how energy independence is key to our national security. “We have to be nice to bad people because they have oil,” Russert told us, and that creates a threat to the United States and Israel.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the U.s. Senate passed the most significant energy bill in 30 years. It’s missing a few key components. But, it’s progress after years of neglect of strategic importance, not to mention helpful to our environment. More importantly, Congress agreed to fund measures that will provide loans guarantees for energy projects. This is important, as Tim Russert suggests, to help protect the U.S. and Israel.

Tim Russert wears his politics on his sleeve, so this speech was nothing you couldn’t have predicted.

I will take him (and anyone else for that matter) seriously on “energy independence” when he advocates for oil drilling in Alaska and off the US coast line, for rapid approvals of nuke plants, for approving the Nevada uranium storgage site, for prohibiting spuriuous regulations against LNG facilities in the Northeast, and against so-called windfall profit taxes on oil companies.

Until then, it is so much hot air.

Interesting commentary on the evening. 

In the future, you should do a quick read through.  This post was tough to read due to so many grammatical problems.  It makes me hesitant to return to this page in the future.