One crucial item that bodes well for America from the debates between the U.S. presidential contenders Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama is that issues concerning energy—energy security and climate change among others—have been elevated to the highest levels of discussion.
On energy, Obama said that the country could attain energy self-sufficiency within ten years if it aggressively focuses on developing its renewable energy resources and new drilling could remove the shackles from Middle Eastern and Venezuelan oil. With declining production from Mexico and Canada, their wishes are unlikely to be granted in the foreseeable future.
McCain is seen to be friendly to big oil, and his rallies are punctuated by cries of “drill, baby, drill!”
"We can't simply drill our way out of the problem," Obama countered, noting the US consumes nearly 25% of the world production, but contributes only 3% of the supply.
Obama even puts energy on top of his presidential agenda, ahead of health care and Social Security reform, two of the most emotional issues confronting Americans. And he is willing to commit $150 billion for a rational alternative and renewable energy program.
On the final debate, fully 72% of the viewers agreed with host Bob Schieffer to put energy as a priority topic. This is just below the rating of education (78%) and abortion (74%).
McCain on the other hand, is pushing for massive nuclear development. On the attendant issue of nuclear waste disposal, he simply waived the problem by saying if the Japanese, French and Canadians could do it so does the U. S. He is however silent on the specter of a wider nuclear proliferation.
Perhaps the most pleased American watching the debates could be T. Boone Pickens, who recently unveiled his Plan to wean America from foreign oil by displacing all of electricity from natural gas by wind energy and using the former to fuel the millions of road vehicles. And he made no bones (no pun intended) of aiming earlier to put the energy situation on top of the issues during the current presidential campaign.
Apparently, he is succeeding.
During the heat of the campaign, scientists, military veterans, corporate executives, clergy, Native Americans, movie stars and others have signed a letter to both McCain and Obama to call for and urgent comprehensive action to address global climate change upon taking office as president. The call is inextricably tied to the issues concerning energy usage and policies.
"We must act quickly to invest in a new energy economy that not only generates all the power we need while dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but also produces millions of new jobs, new industries, new revenues and new opportunities," the letter said.
With the looming presidential elections in 2010 in this country, it doesn’t hurt if we start a campaign now to place our precarious energy situation as the top issue like what is happening in the U. S.
We are more than dependent on foreign oil; with insignificant amount of local production. The much-touted Galoc oil is but a drop of our needs.
The renewable energy bill has just been approved by both the House and the Senate and all it needs is a signature for it to become a law. While the bill leaves much to be desired, at least we have a legal platform now to vigorously push for our own alternative and renewable energy development.
If anything, the Obama-McCain debates should spur us, especially our legislators and politicians aspiring for the highest offices, to examine the energy situation before it gets much worse.
Hopefully, this will continue even after the elections, and Obama fulfills his campaign promise on energy.
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