Brian Schweitzer: A Voice From The West

Having already sung the praises of former Virginia Governor Mark Warner as the man the Democrats should have chosen for President, I now find myself watching the man that could have been a superb running mate, current Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.

Schweitzer was elected Governor of Montana, a normally Republican state in 2004 and is so popular now that the Republicans have basically written the contest off. He was elected with a Republican running mate as his Lt. Governor, demonstrating a desire for bipartisanship.

In his address he discussed the successes of the past four years and, while we have to assume that he probably put a bit of polish on the apple, the fact is the record is impressive.

When I ran for governor of Montana, I had never before held elected office. I chose a Republican, John Bohlinger, to be my lieutenant governor, with the simple proposition that we could get more done working together than we could fighting. Because Montana really isn’t a red state or a blue state. As Senator Obama might put it, we’re a united state.

And so in three-and-a-half years, working together-Republicans and Democrats in Montana-we have cut more taxes for more Montanans than any time in history, increased energy production at the fastest rate in the history of Montana, invested more new money in education than ever before and we created the largest budget surplus in the history of Montana. That’s the kind of change we brought to Montana, and that’s the kind of change President Barack Obama is going to bring to America.

Like Warner he focused on energy independence, talking about the need to create new sources of energy and to create an entirely new way of thinking.

We need to break America’s addiction to foreign oil. We need a new energy system that is clean, green and American-made. And we need a president who can marshal our nation’s resources, get the job done and deliver the change we need.

That leader is Barack Obama. Barack Obama knows there’s no single platform for energy independence. It’s not a question of either wind or clean coal, solar or hydrogen, oil or geothermal. We need them all to create a strong American energy system, a system built on American innovation.

Now again, as with Warner I take exception with the idea that we can just turn things over to new sources tomorrow. As T. Boone Pickens has pointed out in his own campaign, we need to both drill today to provide a short-term solution AND focus on creating long term solutions.

However the long term energy plan he outlined is one that sounds like something we need for the future.

Barack Obama understands the most important barrel of oil is the one you don’t use. Barack Obama’s energy strategy taps all sources and all possibilities. It will give you a tax credit if you buy a fuel-efficient car or truck, increase fuel-efficiency standards and put a million plug-in hybrids on the road.

Invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in clean, renewable energy technology. This will create up to 5 million new, green jobs and fuel long-term growth and prosperity. Senator Obama’s plan will also invest in a modern transmission grid to deliver this new, clean electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to homes, offices and the batteries in America’s new plug-in hybrid cars.

But more impressive that the speech itself was the energy (no pun intended) that it was delivered with. Governor  Schweitzer got the crowd on its feet, calling on everyone in the arena to stand up for the future. Based on my review of the posted ‘planned remarks’ it looks like Schweitzer improvised a good part of the end of the address and that is pretty impressive.

Obama/Biden may be the ticket for 2008 but Warner/Schweitzer is one for the future.