Hey, look, somebody asked a question about energy in the foreign policy panel! Beinart says this issue has undergone a sea change — everyone’s talking about it.
Clemons says the global oil situation is heading in a grim direction. On domestic renewables: "There’s a corrupt game going on between those like James Woolsey who just want energy independence and will fund any scam (i.e. corn ethanol) that claims to address it, and those who also want to solve global warming. This is the next big bubble. There’s a gross and corrupt game going on." Word to that. Wish he had time to say more.
In other news, Steve Clemons is wicked smart. Here’s his blog.
Here comes another question about climate change, asking how the focus can be moved from relatively trivial domestic issues like CAFE to the more important issue of international negotiations. Unfortunately, this gets lumped in with a general question about international institutions.
Clemons on climate change debate: "We haven’t yet had a breakout narrative about a comprehensive energy plan. We’re chasing fads, this crop and that crop, without doing systemic analysis. A slippery reality where everyone can be for climate policy, but with no benchmarks. We should raise the political price for defecting from where the global conversation is."
