Al Gore endorsed Barack Obama yesterday, and in his remarks he was fairly subtle in stressing the need for a Democratic President to solve the climate crisis and mitigate the worst effects of global warming. In fact, he gave muted praise to John McCain on this front:
...as Senator Barack Obama has said, John McCain is deserving of that respect. He has demonstrated bravery in war and as a prisoner of war, and has served in the House of Representatives and in the Senate for many years. Moreover, he has demonstrated a willingness to debate some critical issues, including the climate crisis, that many Republicans have refused to discuss at all.
But even as we acknowledge his long experience, we must and we will make our case that America simply cannot afford to continue the policies of the last eight years for another four.
This kind of statement in stuck in the mindset of the 1990s, when just "speaking out" about the environment, regardless of your policy proposals, is as important as any meaningful action. And it's what McCain himself is hoping to capitalize on in November. He's clearly picked climate change as the issue where he can show distance from President Bush, where he can burnish those moderate credentials that he's already starting to lose amongst the voters.
(Notice the new McCain slogan of "Reform. Prosperity. Peace." I so called it.)
Sounds and looks powerful and clear-cut. Of course, McCain would have more credibility on this issue if he knew what a cap and trade system was.
Also from John McCain's press conference this morning, the senator from Arizona once again makes it clear that he doesn't really understand cap-and-trade:
QUESTION: The European Union has set mandatory targets on renewable energy. Is that something you would consider in a McCain administration? [...]
MCCAIN: Sure. I believe in the cap-and-trade system, as you know. I would not at this time make those -- impose a mandatory cap at this time. But I do believe that we have to establish targets for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions over time, and I think those can be met.
Which is, of course, completely out of line with his own proposal for a cap-and-trade scheme, both the plan he proposed with Joe Lieberman last year and his own presidential plan, released last month. They both would, by nature, be mandatory -- hence the "cap" in the name. This isn't the first time McCain has misunderstood his own policy on cap-and-trade. In the Republican debate in Florida in January, he also denied that his cap-and-trade program included a mandatory cap on carbon.
McCain has claimed that he was confused by the question, which means he's confused by his own proposal. That's because he's trying to please two classes of voters at the same time. On the one hand he wants to prove his commitment to doing something about climate change. On the other, he has to keep the global warming denialists in his base, who have called him a "liberal Democrat" just for talking about the issue, at bay. So he calls a mandatory cap "voluntary," suggesting that he has no interest in the policy whatsoever. And he's paradoxically called for an end to the offshore drilling ban in coastal waters, a signal to the hard right that in the end, he values the oil companies over breathable air and a manageable climate.
McCain's energy money makes no sense. He tries to differentiate his position with the President, then authors the same policies. He has a lukewarm cap and trade proposal (polluters under his plan get free permits, rather than Obama's 100% auction which is used to fund alternative energy and relieve the burden of higher energy prices on low-income Americans), but doesn't really understand what it means.
It'd be nice if Al Gore could say this out loud.
...check this out, CNN actually figured this one out and reported the story honestly. "Blow me down," as Popeye would say. This isn't perfect, but it's progress.