Energy Issues Redefine The Campaign
08/06/2008
By: Joe Murray, The Bulletin
Energy is no longer just one of the issues on the minds of voters in an election season that has witnessed soaring gas prices and stagnant wages - it is the only issue.
From offshore drilling to nuclear power plants to green technology, the pinch at the pump has caused Americans to re-evaluate their views on energy issues that, in turn, has changed the dynamic on the campaign trail.
"Tell em' to come back and get to work," John McCain said, yelling into the microphone, to a rally of motorcycle enthusiasts in South Dakota. The presumptive Republican nominee was referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., decision to recess Congress before lawmakers could vote on lifting the ban on offshore drilling.
"When I'm president of the United States, I'm not going to let them go on vacation. They're gonna become energy independent."
The congressional showdown represents the problems Democrats now face in an energy debate that favors offshore drilling.
As prices continue to soar at the pump, more and more voters have become open to the idea of offshore drilling, as many as 75 percent, thus favoring Republicans who have fought to lift the ban.
As a result, Rasmussen Reports found Mr. McCain, the candidate who made drilling a central point of his energy plan, has become more trusted on energy than his Democratic rival.
Mocking Mr. McCain in an Ohio town hall meeting, Mr. Obama described his opponent as saying, "I want to drill here. I want to drill now. I don't know where he was standing. I think he was in a building somewhere." But despite the joking, it appears Mr. Obama has begun addressing his own opposition to drilling.
Initially, Mr. Obama resisted calls for offshore drilling, labeling the plan as a "scheme" last week in a Missouri town hall meeting, telling his supporters the plan was "not real."
"If I thought that by drilling offshore we could solve our problem, I'd do it ... This is not real," Mr. Obama said. Previously, Mr. Obama has seen drilling and alternative fuel sources in an all-or-nothing manner.
"It shouldn't be an either/or proposition and it is wrong for so many people pitting one [drilling] against the other [alternative energy sources]," said Tom Blanton, president of the Coalition for a Conservative Majority in Denver, Colorado.
In light of recent polling data and the change in political climate, Mr. Obama has backtracked from his previous all-or-nothing approach and is beginning to adopt a policy that recognizes both the need for drilling and new fuel sources.
Two days after calling drilling a "scheme," Mr. Obama said he could support a bipartisan plan created by the "Gang of 10" in the U.S. Senate. The plan supports offshore drilling exploration, but also includes ambitious goals that would have 85 percent of cars off
petroleum-based fuels in 20 years.
Mr. Obama defended his position by saying the compromise is not a change in position, but rather an example of the change needed to break gridlock in Washington.
"We can't drill our way out of the problem," Mr. Obama said while recognizing some compromise would have to be reached.
But despite his support for the Gang of 10 plan, Mr. Obama continued to blast the McCain camp's position on drilling.
"This plan will not lower prices today, it won't lower prices during the next administration," Mr. Obama said in Ohio. "The truth is we wouldn't see a drop of oil from John McCain's plan for at least seven years."
With polls favoring Republicans on drilling, they made sure to remind voters Mr. Obama is not a friend of drilling.
"So. Obama's stance on offshore oil drilling has been mischaracterized. He has not changed his position," Mr. McCain's spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said. "He has continually campaigned against additional drilling, calling the policy a 'gimmick' saying it was a 'scheme' and ridiculing those who support it."
Mr. Obama, however, tried to shift the energy debate away from drilling and towards his $4 billion promise to retool the auto industry in Michigan Monday. He also attempted to link his rival to Vice President Dick Cheney and continued to define Mr. McCain as being in the pocket of big oil.
"I know how much the auto industry and the autoworkers of this state have struggled over the last decade or so," Mr. Obama said. "But I also know where I want the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow to be built - not in Japan, not in China, but right here in the United States of America. Right here in the state of Michigan."
Mr. Obama accused Mr. McCain of taking "a page out of the Cheney playbook" because "Cheney met with renewable-energy folks once and oil and gas [executives] 40 times."
Democrats also released yesterday a new ad portraying Mr. McCain as a marionette whose strings are being pulled by oil lobbyists.
"The American people want a President who will put their interests ahead of John McCain's oil company buddies and their lobbyists," said DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney. Republicans, however, counter Democrats missed the boat on the offshore drilling issue and are now struggling on an issue that has become dominant in the campaign.
Republicans have labeled Mr. Obama "Dr. NObama" and have used his own words against him in the energy debate. Not only did he vehemently oppose offshore drilling, saying it was a "strategy designed to get politicians through an election," he has resisted Mr. McCain's call to expand nuclear energy.
"I am not a nuclear energy proponent," Mr. Obama said last December. The McCain camp believes such a mindset will hinder, not help, the cash-stricken American people.
"The American people can be sure that John McCain will do what is necessary to reduce this country's dependence on Middle East oil and bring down prices at the pump," said Ms. Hazelbaker.
Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us.
(c)The Evening Bulletin 2008