Last October, Barack Obama laid out a detailed, ambitious, and comprehensive energy plan, and he's been talking about it ever since.
A couple weeks ago, John McCain let loose a flurry of one-off energy gimmicks -- a gas tax holiday, offshore drilling, a prize for a car battery -- which he crammed together under the heading "the Lexington Plan."
According to Washington Wise Man Michael Hirsh, in a mash note that would embarrass a crushing tween, that puts Obama on the defensive. After all, "no one really cares what Obama said last October." More specifically, Hirsh doesn't care -- he can't be bothered to look into the competing policy proposals and assess which is more credible. He cares about who, like, totally dissed who, and McCain's people tell him Obama's on the defensive, so that's what he's going with.
In doing so he reveals an almost total ignorance of the campaigns' records and positions. Like this:
Now it's McCain who has laid out a clear -- if questionably feasible -- energy vision for the future, while the Obama-ites are still rushing to put together a comprehensive paper gathering all his ideas on the current gas crisis and the long-term energy crisis.
While the Pony Express may not have gotten Hirsh his "comprehensive paper" yet, using an online internet search engine called "Google," I discovered that Obama has an entire website devoted to how he would solve the "long-term energy crisis." Didn't McCain's people send Hirsh the link?
Obama has a paper trail on these issues a mile long, while McCain just unveiled his Frankenstein policy weeks ago. But like most D.C. pundits, Hirsh has Anterograde Amnesia and cannot form new memories. He floats along on the present news cycle, innocent (and gullible) as a babe.
Then get this:
True, Obama has called for an investment of $150 billion over 10 years, dwarfing McCain's incentive plan, as Furman points out. But he hasn't spelled out how that would be used.
Having gotten a taste for this "Google" business, I returned to it to discover that Obama's energy "website" contains more than a dozen bullet points spelling out in great detail "how it would be used." Perhaps Newsweek could hire a research assistant to "search the web" for Hirsh?
This takes the cake though:
Like McCain's embrace of global warming as a national-security issue, his new stance on energy is a studied repudiation of the Bush administration.
Like McCain, Bush consistently refers to climate in terms of "energy security" (his administration just put out a National Intelligence Assessment that deems global warming a national security threat). Like McCain, Bush supports offshore drilling and more oil and gas exploration in the West. Like McCain, Bush supports substantial new pork for nuclear power and "clean coal." Like McCain, Bush opposes increasing efficiency or performance standards for specific economic sectors. Like McCain, Bush is open to a gas tax holiday.
If McCain was aiming for a "studied repudiation" of Bush on energy, he shot somewhat wide of the mark.
And if Hirsh thinks an incoherent amalgam of media-friendly poses makes a candidate a "grown up," he's been in Washington way, way too long.
U.S.-Russia climate and energy efficiency cooperation: A neglected challenge
Franken win means another likely Senate vote for climate action
Comments View as Flat
JMG Posted 3:35 am
29 Jun 2008
The Scorpion's Sting
Reading this reminded me of that story about the scorpion who convinces the frog to ferry him across the river by promising not to sting him, which he of course does when they are half-way across ... the frog asks why, and the scorpion says "Because I'm a scorpion, that's what I do." The frog says "But you promised not to!," and the scorpion says "You knew what I was from the start."
Having watched the obese media scorpion do everything possible to shunt John Edwards to the side and rally around Hils and Obama at all costs, Obama is going to discover that they are still the scorpion, and he's not getting across the river alive if they have anything to do about it.
The 5% Project
Permalink
Rico Posted 6:54 am
29 Jun 2008
Go ask Alice
A couple of things I found noteworthy in Hirsh's piece:
The first is one Dave mentioned in his post but for somewhat different reasons. Hirsh said, "Now it's McCain who has laid out a clear -- if questionably feasible -- energy vision for the future." Uh... if it's questionable how is it a clear vision? Clearly questionable maybe. I seem to recall someone else mentioning "clear vision" a lot during the campaign four years ago -- one that was equally questionable at the time and proven profoundly myopic thereafter. Maybe we should call it the Mr. Magoo energy policy. Magoo was equally certain of himself for all the wrong reasons. The only problem with that idea is, only those around McCain's age are likely to understand the reference. Then again, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
The other is this: Hirsh says, "True, Obama has called for an investment of $150 billion over 10 years, dwarfing McCain's incentive plan..." What incentive plan? Whatever it is, does it include nuclear power? Apparently not, because if that idea was included it wouldn't be McCain's plan that was "dwarfed".
Despite the "Through the Lookingglass" tone of Hirsh's article though, unfortunately I think he gets one very important thing right: that's what campaigns are. Most people are as confused as Alice. And that, I think, is an important thing to keep in mind.
Permalink
spaceshaper Posted 9:14 am
29 Jun 2008
The scorpion's nature
A traditional version of this tale, which some trace to Aesop, runs something like this:
"A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too."
The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"
"I am a scorpion. It is my nature""
Seems to have some wider relevance than just the media right now, huh?
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
Permalink
JMG Posted 12:42 pm
29 Jun 2008
The Scorpion in the tank for McSame
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/29/the-mclaughlin-g ...
The 5% Project
Permalink