Barack Obama

Breaking the mental habit of selective fiscal conservatism

“And if people ask how we’re going to pay for [renewable power and infrastructure investments], you tell them that if we can spend $10 billion a month in Iraq, we can spend some money to rebuild America.” — Sen. Barack Obama, to a crowd of 100,000 people in St. Louis on Saturday

Where the presidential candidates stand on public-lands issues

We’ve heard the presidential candidates talk a lot about energy and a little bit about climate change on the campaign trail this year, but there hasn’t been much discussion about a whole host of other environmental concerns. Here we look at the statements and platforms of Barack Obama and John McCain on public-lands issues.   […]

McCain ‘is not serious about clean energy and he has increasingly walked away from climate issue’

Andy Revkin has written a very fair-minded New York Times piece, "On Global Warming, McCain and Obama Agree: Urgent Action Is Needed." He notes: Both candidates say that human-caused climate change is real and urgent, and that they would sharply diverge from President Bush’s course by proposing legislation requiring sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions […]

A roundup of environmental news from the presidential race

• The Wall Street Journal spazzes out about Obama adviser Jason Grumet’s assertion that a President Obama would fight climate change under the Clean Air Act if Congress doesn’t move to address the issue within 18 months. Obama, the paper fears, would wield the EPA’s “so-called ‘endangerment finding’ on carbon … as a political bludgeon” […]

Minn. Rep. Bachmann lists climate policy as among her ‘concerns’ about Barack Obama

On a local news program today, Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann was asked about her statement on Friday that she is “very concerned” that Barack Obama “may have anti-American views.” Bachmann denied saying it. “I feel his views are concerning. I’m calling on the media to investigate them. I’m not saying that his views are […]

Obama’s pushing a clean energy agenda with swing-voter-pleasing rhetoric

(part the first/ part the second) Let me summarize: Obama is stuck in a peculiar political moment. In substantive terms, he knows that our dire climate and energy situation requires huge and possibly wrenching changes to drive the country away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy and efficiency. He has proposed climate and energy […]

Next president needs a constituency pressing for climate change action

If you listen real hard, you can hear Harry and Louise revving up their SUV, preparing to drive right over any effort to “kill economic growth” or “raise costs on the consumer” with “job-killing” carbon taxes. Green groups still have time to slit the SUV’s tires … but not much time. Barack Obama is poised […]

Obama’s ‘support’ for dirty energy contains conditional clauses that make all the difference

In part the first I made four points about political context: Obama’s no ordinary candidate — given his considerable political liabilities, he is at unique pains to appear reasonable and post-partisan and unexotic. The American people are all-of-the-above on energy — saying no to particular sources or technologies is perceived as vaguely ideological and interest-groupy. […]

Grist poll: Which candidate has bucked his base more on the environment?

Now that we know both presidential candidates are OK with occasionally being unpopular — especially when it comes to the environment — who do you think has differed more from his base on this issue? </object&gt Quizzes by Quibblo.com