Obama Vice President Choice May Shed Light On His Position On Coal

So Virginia governor Tim Kaine is apparently in the pole position for the Obama veepstakes. Aside from all the other considerations--do vice-presidential candidates even help carry states any more, and how much is that Honduran vote worth, anyway?--one question does spring to mind.

Why would a presidential candidate determined to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% and who has declared war on coal pick a running mate who made national headlines precisely by fighting environmentalists tooth-and-nail to get a big, new coal-fired power plant for southwestern Virginia?

Sen. Obama's zig-zagging public stances on coal's place in future U.S. energy policy have already caused plenty of confusion. (Granted, a lot of those zigs came during a heated primary campaign his general-election opponent largely avoided.) Coal is very bad, and isn't part of the energy answer--except in Kentucky, and West Virginia, and Ohio, and any of the other states that mine it or burn it, apparently.

Read the full story here

Or get the latest on the Obama veepstakes

Comments

[chinationreport]

Isn't there anyway to make clean coal or develop liquified coal technolgy? If yes, I don't see why excluding this option.


http://www.chinationreport.com/

[NTO08]

Obama has been a backer of coal...any other interpretation of his position otherwise is a lie.

[olivia]

Kathleen Sebelius fought the big power companies in Kansas and kept them from putting in coal-fired power plants. Instead we have more wind farms.

Sebelius is a hero in Kansas.

[AlfredoENewman]

Unfortunately, Obama has given up. Winning is important but sounds like business as usual regardless who we get..

[NTO08]

Of course he has...but some of us knew that all along...we saw through the vague pronouncements, the refusal to take a position on key issues so that he could do what he is doing now: show himself to be a politician, albeit a slick one--far slicker and slimier than Bill Clinton allegedly, and I DO MEAN ALLEGEDLY, ever was.

Obama, the Elmer Gantry of our day...
Selling snake oil to the gullible...

[noneIn2008]

Coal is a renewable energy source. It just takes a little longer to renew, a few 100 million years.

[NTO08]

Tell that to Obama...

[philobama]

Re comments below on "clean coal", please see Gore's comments on "clean coal", an oxymoron, at TED's March conference at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/al_gore_s_new_thinking_on_the_climate_crisis.html DOE, General Electric and others are doing a lot of research on whether CO2 from coal fired plants can be sequestered with little success, and Gore has openly called for no more coal plants. This makes the Sebelius/Kaine discussion mystifying, except when one considers that environmental issues, alone, probably play little role in Obama's mind with the VP choice. My understanding is that Obama has come a long way over the past nine months on climate change. I think the biggest issue is whether the Clinton/Deval Patrick forces will mantain a hold with their make money first ideology or the Gore/truly public interest forces with their save the planet conviction will prevail.

[mergina]

If Obama is really thinking of this guy, I WILL VOTE FOR MCCAIN, and smile while I am doing so. What the hell could he be thinking?

There is no single issue for us as a nation and a species that is more important to deal with than climate change, and pollution.

Obama has indeed gone beyond flip flopper. Could McCains ads be right?

[SneathLane]

No, in fact McCain's ads are wrong. Seriously wrong.

Do you seriously think McCain will be better on greenhouse gas emission policy than Obama? Of course not!

You'll be voting McCain anyway, won't you? This is just your forlorn effort to confuse a few progressives.

[NTO08]

Obama picking this guy is not so far fetched, since his position has been pro-coal, and nothing else...anyone claiming otherwise is hoodwinking you...Illinois is a coal producing state also...end of discussion...birds of a feather one might say.

[fiberoptimist]

Kaine would be a lousy choice for V.P. Two 1st termers on the same ticket? That's just too much on the job training.

If Kaine puts on a helmet, he'd look just as goofy as Dukakis. OB needs to pick someone who looks serious and has decades of experience, like Chris Dodd. Can Al Gore be V.P. twice?

[NTO08]

Newbies need not apply...
America is in no position now to have anyone learning on the job, or taking advice from some of the worst of the Clinton years, such as Zbigniew Brezinski or god help us, Madeleine Albright.

See, now some of you think I am a total Clintonian...but these two were disastrous members of Bill's cabinet...

[emstrem]

Obama's M.O. as of late has been to flip- flop. I wonder if he'll flip-flop on veep choices too???

[NTO08]

One more flip, and he's a flop.

[leduck]

i love coal
what else should i use to make my snowman's eyes?

[nellie]

Not thrilled with Kaine. And I don't think O has wavered on coal. He's always favored clean coal—one of his positions I don't agree with.

[NTO08]

Clean coal is an oxymoron...a no-win scenario for energy source.

[OldKnute]

Wat? Zig Zag? The CLEAN COAL,, initiatives that have always been the CORE arguments of the Obama Team,, or the obsolete, polluting Coal Fired power plants of today that McCain and Bush demand?

Obama is the future of Coal,, Clean Coal. Always has been.

Just look at Coal Sourced Diesel Our Farmers and Truckers are BLEEDING TYO DEATH, right through their wallets.

Coal Sourced Diesel, is HEAR NOW.

You don"t have to RE-Invent the wheel,, it existed 100 years ago.

Solar Bio-Remediation of co2 belching smokestacks of,,, EXISTING,,, Coal plants,,, is HEAR NOW.

And guess what? The harvested co2,, is MORE OIL,,, or cattle and animal feeds. TODAY,, HERE AND NOW!

Coal oils are HERE,, they have been here for 100 years. They used to light and heat our homes. 100 Years ago.

Coal based plastics are as old as the Plastic industry. Why? Because Germany of 80 years ago,,, had LOTS OF COAL.

Read what Obama is talking about. Not just More of the Same,, McCain rush to OIL and Coal as Buddies and Money Pits.

Tim Kaine SAHOULD be on his Short List.

The Coal industry today is Dig and Ship. The profits, NEW Industries,, GREEN,,, Bio-Remediation, Manufacturing and JOBS that Clean Coal will bring to Virginia will be a BOON to the State.

DIG,,,, AND Process,,, then SHIP,, Products, materials Liquid fuels. Hell,,, The whole Southeast benefit from the Obama plans for Coal.

Zig,, Zag,, my BUTT!

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB

[NTO08]

Are you out of your mind?
There IS NO SUCH THING as clean coal...get it out of your talking points right now...and leave it where it belongs...in the trash heap...

[jsarets]

I think that Kaine is taking his lap as the veep pick of the week to provide political cover for Obama to choose Sebelius. She can't be seen as "not Hillary", so it would help Obama significantly if she is positioned as "not Kaine". I suspect that we'll be reading a fair bit over the next few weeks about the differences between Kaine and Sebelius on various issues as a way of demonstrating that Sebelius was chosen for substantive reasons, not simply because she's a woman.

[Marlyn]

Sebelius would be a weak choice.

[NTO08]

Agreed...Kansas has zero play in the election.

[olivia]

Sebelius is a very strong candidate imho. She has accomplished amazing things in Kansas, as a Democrat in a red state. She's also personable and warm.

[NTO08]

No one knows her...no one cares about her...and Obama will never win Kansas...never!
She would add nothing to the ticket except someone the media would be labeling as "WHO is she???" "WHY would he pick THIS non-entity?"

[DRaymond]

To my knowledge Obama (and even Al Gore) is fine with the idea of 'clean coal' technology.

[Donnat]

No such thing as 'clean coal'

[NTO08]

Exactly...a myth...

[several]

-=-=-=-
In an interview taped in London for NBC"s "Meet the Press," Tom Brokaw asked Obama about the "old rules" of picking a ticket mate based on electoral strength in some region, and "someone who is stronger in some policy area than you are."

"I think the most important thing, from my perspective, is somebody who can help me govern," Obama said. "I want somebody who I"m compatible with, who I can work with, who has a shared vision, who certainly complements me, in the sense that they provide a knowledge base or an area of expertise that can be useful. Because we"re going to have a lot of problems and a lot of work to do."

"I"m not interested in a vice president who I just send off to go to funerals," he continued. "I want somebody who"s going to be able to roll up their sleeves and really do some work."
-=-=-=-
Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/12083.html

[OldKnute]

Well,, Yep! Several,, I remember that interview too.

Personally,, that speech,, the Obama speech,,, is JOE BIDEN

Straight talking, courageous, a man of principles, a team player, strong, respected and NOT afraid to speak truth to power. He has proven this throughout his long career in service to America.

I remember how Biden was always nodding and commenting in support of Obamas views, during the Dem, Primary debates. Though Biden was on the same stage, the same competition, it was like the was really listing to Obama. You could almost feel Joes admaration of Obama growing as he listened.

Kaine does represent a HUGE voting block, in the south and the East, but Biden has been the Hero of Small Business for decades. Delaware Laws for Small Business are fantastic. About half of all new companies register in Delaware, Nevada running a close second. Small Companies all over America that listen to Bidens every word, have watched him help these new companies grow.

I think Joe is there,,,, in buckets, and totally committed to an American future,, a hopeful future,,, the restoration of ALL America can be. Biden,,,, Always has been.



JMO

Thanks for bringing that here to this thread, Reminding us, Several.

Thanks

All the best

Knute Neo-Lib.