Barack Obama

Obama cannot politically afford to take the kind of bold green stances enviros are hungry for

At Wednesday night’s debate, in the course of arguing that he is not overly beholden to his party or interest groups, Obama said something that is predictably provoking umbrage among enviros: "I support clean coal technology. Doesn’t make me popular with environmentalists." To many greens, this is just the latest insult from a campaign that […]

Energy adviser says Obama would regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act

In an interview with Bloomberg, Obama energy adviser Jason Grumet said that Obama would regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Grumet said Obama “would initiate those rulemakings,” authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to use the Clean Air Act to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and manufacturers. This would, […]

Safety is for extremists

“Senator Obama will tell you, as the extreme environmentalists do, [nuclear power] has to be safe.” — Sen. John McCain, at the 15 Oct. 2008 presidential debate

Candidates talk energy in the final debate, but don’t stray from their usual talking points

The third presidential debate yielded nothing new from Barack Obama or John McCain on climate or energy policy, but both candidates pointed to an environmental issue to demonstrate their independence from their respective parties. Barack Obama and John McCain. When McCain challenged Obama to name a major issue on which he’s differed with Democratic leaders, […]

Debate climate question

At tonight’s debate, moderator Bob Scheiffer asked a question about energy independence and "climate control" (oy). The answers never really touched on climate at all and quickly drifted far afield from energy. Here’s the exchange, from CNN’s running transcript: Schieffer: Let’s go to — let’s go to a new topic. We’re running a little behind. […]

Presidential candidates meet for their final showdown tonight

With just 20 days to go before the election, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama will meet at Hofstra University for their third and final debate tonight at 9 p.m. EDT. Their ultimate encounter, moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS News, will focus on domestic and economic policy. Might we hear some questions (or, […]

News tidbits from the presidential race

• The Salt Lake Tribune has an in-depth look at Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s records and rhetoric on energy, honing in on a number of specific issues, from renewables to oil shale to “clean coal.” There’s even a handy chart. • Washington Post columnist Andrew Freedman looks at how the presidential candidates might reshape […]

The new dean of the Washington press corps advances the cause of economic illiteracy

If you’ll pardon me, I’m going to keep harping on this theme. This column from Dan Balz — the New Broder — is absurd for any number of reasons, but I particularly want to draw attention to this bit, which distills Very Serious conventional wisdom: Nor is it evident that [Obama] has dealt realistically with […]

McCain and Obama need to talk real farm policy

John McCain and Barack Obama need to start talking farm policy. With less than a month before the November elections in a year marked by a world-wide food crisis, energy shortages, climate change, and an international credit crisis, agriculture should be a prominent issue in every media event. Current farm policies are more about corporate […]