The Democratic Party today approved a platform that embraces presidential candidate Barack Obama’s energy policies. Included in it is his call for tax rebates to families struggling with high energy costs.
In an op-ed in the Denver Post today, John Podesta and Timothy Wirth argue that the platform doesn’t go far enough on energy issues. Podesta is president of the Center for American Progress and former chief of staff to President Clinton, and Wirth is president of the United Nations Foundation and a former senator and rep who represented Colorado from 1975 to 1992. Here’s the key part of the op-ed:
The Democratic Party platform recognizes the energy opportunity in its section on “Investing in American Competitiveness” — but it does not go far enough. The size and urgency of this task require a president willing to make it the top domestic priority in the White House — not pigeonholed as an energy initiative or environmental initiative or even as a security initiative, but made the centerpiece of his economic agenda. Indeed, it will demand that the president refocus the mission and responsibility of all relevant government agencies and convene them in a new National Energy Council in the White House.
The success of this year’s candidates and next year’s elected leaders will rise and fall on how they address the energy issue. Those who convey the scale and scope — and opportunity — of transforming our energy economy will succeed.
