NO DOUBT many readers of “The Right Man,” David Frum’s engrossing new account of his year as a White House speechwriter, are relieved to learn that George W. Bush is much smarter than they’d been told and that political adviser Karl Rove has the brainpower and curiosity of a true intellectual. I on the other hand was delighted to discover that Bush is obsessed with turning out lights.
The president, Frum writes, becomes irritated when he wakes up before sunrise, gazes out at the Executive Office Building next to the White House, and finds it “bright with lights that had been carelessly left on.” That’s not all. He’s concerned about a single light left burning in an empty room. Bush once pointed to a table lamp left on after a meeting and asked, “Do you think it’s going to occur to anybody to turn that lamp off when we leave the room?” Answering his own question, Bush turned the light off himself, Frum says.
This is a man after my own heart. There are billions of people in the world who leave lights on. But there’s only a small band of hardy, sensible, frugal folks who take it upon themselves to turn lights out and urge others to do the same. I’m a proud member of that group.
Around my house, there are people who think such behavior is weird and very obsessive. Maybe they’ve got a point. But I have an explanation. Making sure lights are turned out is genetic. It’s not learned behavior. I don’t know where Bush got the lights-off gene, but I inherited it from my father. He thought a light left on was a terrible waste of electricity. Besides, it cost money.
My father also felt a duty to make sure his children’s genes for clicking lights off did not remain dormant. Day after day, he reminded my sister and me to turn lights off when we left a room or our home. He thought this was a good life lesson, and he was right. Another of his lessons was about feeding birds. He was glad to feed them–up to a point. But if the birds swarmed back the moment a fresh supply of birdseed was put in the feeder, my father figured they were becoming welfare dependents. By putting food out sparingly, he made sure they didn’t lose their habit of self-reliance.
But I digress. The important thing about turning out lights is it makes economic sense and represents good stewardship of resources. Think about it. Does a lumberyard leave the power saw on when the business is closed for the day? Of course not. That would be wasteful. Does a newspaper keep the presses running once the day’s paper has been printed? No. That would needlessly drive up the cost of publishing. The principle–waste is costly and perhaps even sinful–is the same regarding lights in your home or in a government office.
Getting folks to observe this principle, however, is a chore. In my case and I assume in Bush’s, it’s a life’s work. Those of us who are light-turners-off pass through three stages. First we’re merely aggravated when confronting a light shining for no purpose. Then we become counters, as in, “Son, you left six lights on when you went to the basketball game.” I’m a counter, but not a rigid one. A light switch that turns four ceiling lights on and off–I count that as one light. In stage three, we become crusaders. I’m there and I suspect Bush is too.
It’s a lonely crusade. People tend to get hostile when they’re reminded to turn out the lights. Worse, they don’t take the hint and click lights off. They say angry things like, “Turn them off yourself!” This is not helpful and it’s quite disrespectful. I’ll bet no one at the White House, even Karl Rove or Condoleezza Rice, would say that to the president.
Anyway, Frum’s disclosure about Bush and lights is extremely good news. It’s bound to have a positive effect not only in Washington but across the nation. For instance, someone at the Executive Office of the President is sure to get the assignment of turning out the lights in the EOB. My only complaint is that it shouldn’t have taken an insider book by an ex-speechwriter to make this happen.
Meanwhile, at houses everywhere, the lights-off people will be less lonely than before. They now have a big-time ally. Perhaps it won’t work, but I’m going to try the tack of informing those who leave lights on at my house–that’s everyone but me–that President Bush is on my side. And he wants you to turn the lights off when you’re not around. If that won’t work, nothing will.
–Fred Barnes
