Gary Hart Wakes Up and Smells the Energy Coffee
For all of my enthusiastic, energy policy oriented readers, take a peek at this recent item from the Wall Street Journal. It recognizes, as I have been hammering on repeatedly, that the American public has been experiencing a sea change on domestic energy production. Gary Hart, acting in his capacity as an avid Obama supporter, had some remarkable things to say.
Even the Obama campaign, stung by a new John McCain commercial that contrasts his celebrity cult status in Europe with his refusal to address high gas prices at home, may be in motion. Former Sen. Gary Hart, an Obama surrogate, told the Denver Post that the gas price issue is a top concern of voters. He said it was possible that Senator Obama would back offshore domestic drilling if it were part of a much larger package that focused on clean energy and conservation. But the Obama campaign still insists that the Senator views calls for offshore drilling as a distraction from the real energy debate.
I would love to welcome Senator Obama onboard the energy train, but I frankly don’t see how that works for him. On this issue he may be caught in a trap of his own construction. Too much of his base is opposed to domestic drilling based on long held environmental concerns. This would be seen as another betrayal by those already sulking over his change of heart on FISA and gun control, among other items. His detractors would hit him immediately with the “yet another flip flop” charge. Reading the “part of a much larger package that focused on clean energy and conservation” portion looks like an attempt at some positive spin, but I’m afraid Revlon doesn’t make enough lipstick in an entire year for this pig. The barrier here is that John McCain is already calling for robust efforts in alternative energy, renewable resources and environmental safeguards. For Obama to make this move, he might as well just send out a press release saying, “I’ve decided to adopt my opponent’s energy plan, and support the Lexington Project.” It would be a great move for those of us who urgently desire that whichever man we elect will deliver a serious energy policy, but looks politically poisonous.
52 Responses to “Gary Hart Wakes Up and Smells the Energy Coffee”
“Gasoline prices is the number one threat to our national security.”
I don't know if that's truly so, Neocon, but it's instructive (though I already knew and predicted this, yet it remains useful and entertaining nevertheless). Lefties have had an awful habit since the 1960s of hating automobility (the the worst, most fundamental sense, because it confers liberty whereas collective transportion entails submittal to effective coersion and a forced “choice” to lower one's standard of living in the USA). They have routinely lied and said our prices have been “too low” [sic] or “artificially low” [sic] because they are not so very high as in Europe, where fuels are so highly taxed. But of course they are the first, foremost, loudest to complain once fuel prices, which affect everyone in so many ways, climb to what are widely seen as painful levels. The demands will start getting large on the Dem side for release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — what the Dems did in 2000 — even though once it happens the Dems will attack the GOP for this being done.
You cannot win with the irrational. They can only be exploited, which the Dems have done since the 1930s and especially since the 1960s.
“Obviously, solar thermal is currently more expensive than wind. But they are already very competitive with nuclear, and prices are expected to come down fast.”
Neither of the big two alternatives, wind and solar, are “the” solution, but wind is doing much better than people might think (ignore the lefty drivel and look here at the facts about startup stats, in particular — link below), and as has been explained, solar is a matter of refinement rather than basics as this time, and so merits more federal R&D and (compromise with conservatives) assistance if so decided.
This is under Bush-Cheney, mind you.
http://www.nrel.gov/wind/news/2008/598.html