Obama Is The Only Remaining Green Candidate, Says Times' Friedman

As we emerge from Labor Day, college students are gathering back on campuses not only to start the fall semester, but also, in some cases, to vote for the first time in a presidential election. There is no bigger issue on campuses these days than environment/energy. Going into this election, I thought that -- for the first time -- we would have a choice between two "green" candidates. That view is no longer operative -- and college students (and everyone else) need to understand that.

With his choice of Sarah Palin -- the Alaska governor who has advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and does not believe mankind is playing any role in climate change -- for vice president, John McCain has completed his makeover from the greenest Republican to run for president to just another representative of big oil.

Given the fact that Senator McCain deliberately avoided voting on all eight attempts to pass a bill extending the vital tax credits and production subsidies to expand our wind and solar industries, and given his support for lowering the gasoline tax in a reckless giveaway that would only promote more gasoline consumption and intensify our addiction to oil, and given his desire to make more oil-drilling, not innovation around renewable energy, the centerpiece of his energy policy -- in an effort to mislead voters that support for drilling today would translate into lower prices at the pump today -- McCain has forfeited any claim to be a green candidate.

Read the full story here

Related:

::Sarah Palin On The Environment
::McCain, GOP Differed On Climate

Comments

[walk0nwalls]

Depending on which way Obama goes it could be no candidates left

[KillTheMessenger]

You should be running for president yourself. Let's see how many people will want to vote for you.

:-)

[FearlessFreep]

I'll vote for walkonwalls!

[kenx]

McCain was never a Green candidate. He was just trying to convince some voters that he was. In other words, he was pandering again!

[UnbiasView]

Yeah, Obama is much greener because he doesn't fly around in a plane . . . I mean Obama is greener because . . .

[KillTheMessenger]

You are really desperate for attention today, aren't you?

It's OK... come here... I will give you a big hug!

[qxav949]

I agree, it is very important that all voters realize who really holds strong environmental concerns and balance those with the burgeoning energy needs of this country and the other TWO BILLION folks in China & India, not to mention the other 200+ countries around the world. We must lead. We've led in innovation and technology in the 19th and 20th centuries and we can continue to lead the world by creating a viable, self-sustaining green economy. Our inventions created the largest industries and economies across the world today - alternating current (power transmission), automobiles, telecommunications, air travel, computers, the internet to name a few - and we can do it again.

I trust that T. Boone Pickens realizes this as well. He has to believe that his meeting with McCain was for nought. He'll want to stay politically neutral this time around as he'll want to enlist Rep. lawmakers in Congress regardless who wins the Presidency, but I'll love it if he acknowledges that Obama is THE ONLY green candidate.

[UnbiasView]

When the economy sucks and people see the "green" movement for what it is . . . more taxes . . . then it is labeled as a fraud.

[KillTheMessenger]

People have already seen how big a fraud less taxes FOR THE RICH is...

[ckdogs]

The difference between people and animals is that we can see into the future, and plan for changes. Oil is a finite resource, for which demand is growing. It's use causes global warming, which will eventually cause the globe to be less and less habitable. Therefore - it makes sense to look ahead, and change our direction before it is too late. If we don't plan for alternative energy - which will take many years to research and deploy - the economy of the world will come to a crashing halt. Unless, of course, the Chinese or the Indians are smart enough to develop the technologies first. Then, they can create the jobs, and sell to us - if we have any money to buy.
It may cost a little more in the short run, but it is better for the world, the country, and the individual, in the long run.

[Luigi53102]

Interestingly enough, most sentient beings have figured out that tax dollars spent on developing job-producing technology are much more likely to benefit them than massive oil-company profits that are used to pay CEO's $20mill per year. Calling yourself "UnbiasView" is perhaps the greatest fraud being perpetrated here.

[ajaye]

The green movement is the movement that seems to want to address the impending environmental collapse of the planet. Look around you at the way we humans have despoiled the planet. We cannot change things around to sustain human life, let alone other biological life on this planet by stop gap measures and empty gestures. Systemic change across the globe will be required. Obama cannot accomplish this on his own and it will take more than one generation, but we've got to get started somewhere.

Get an education. Do some research. I recommend the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. Really get a clue. We are not invincible as a species, but even more significant, we are a danger to other species.

[elizabethgrossman]

In addition to the policies Friedman describes, Governor Palin's administration has filed suit against the Dept. of the Interior to prevent Endangered Species Act listing of polar bears. She supports development of the Pebble Mine - what would be N America's largest open pit copper and gold mine, which would threaten Bristol Bay and the world's largest wild sockeye salmon run. In her gubernatorial campaign, Palin said she would support teaching of creationism alongside of evolution. See these and other Palin policies outlined at:
http://blog.islandpress.org/155/elizabeth-grossman-mccain-and-palins-environmental-policies

[colette]

I wish the Obama campaign would issue an ad that was just images of polar bears and their cubs cavorting, and struggling to survive in the waters they must be in more now that the ice caps are slush.

Since americans often seem to respond more to cute furry animals than to rational humans, it could be a high effective campaign tool......

[UnbiasView]

So what is your magical plan to reverse this or stop it . . .

I'll be waiting to hear back from you on something that doesn't lower the standards of living.

[sacrebleu]

"Governor Palin's administration has filed suit against the Dept. of the Interior to prevent Endangered Species Act listing of polar bears."

And to add insult to injury, the bleeping hypocrite had the unmitigated gall to appear on c-span's Washington Journal last week wearing a big polar bear pin.

[Jrosey16]

Hi All,

Check out this great political clip, it is really funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHTMQw49Vis

[bluevillage]

The Obama camp has to make one of its central critiques of Palin that she's in the pocket of big oil. Alaska is the new Texas.

[Califconserve]

That's right, OBAMA has not sided with oil;....Just Tony Resko and Bill Ayers !

[JSDKoeln]

Man you warmonglicans are all alike. Back under your rock, please.

[ckdogs]

Tony Rezko was a real estate developer who supported many candidates in Illinois. When it was clear that he had abused his power, Obama returned his money. And Obama has had little to do with Bill Ayers. They live in the same neighborhood, and served on a board, with numerous other people. That's about it. If that's the best you can do - it's pretty minimal.

[SFkid]

I'd rather side with them than Big Oil.

[Egalitare]

Oh, no. Not Resko and Ayers and the Flying Monkeys!!!

Please BIG OIL: save us with your pure, clean and uncorrupt politics!!

[ajaye]

Completely off topic. Answer the charge. Is the McCain Palin ticket the "green ticket" or not? If not, what would justify its failure to address the pressing environmental issues of our day? Short term economic and political gain perhaps? Ignorance? Hatred of polar bears?

People are not going to get distracted this time around by this irrelevant bs. This is a change election on the heels of a monumentally unpopular Republican administration and the American public wants real change, not just more of the same smear and run tactics that DO NOT address the issues.

You are not doing any favors for McCain and Palin by refusing to answer the charge in a convincing way that they are indeed not "green" candidates. Nobody is biting buddy. Obama is not corrupt. He is not Rezko. He is not a radical anti patriotic wackadoo. He is not Ayers or in sympathy of any radical philosophy. Bringing up some very fleeting associations won't do the job of keeping this campaign and its supporters off message and on the defensive. Okay? So enough. ENOUGH.

So tell us. Do you think this planet is indestructible? Are you one of those end timers who just thinks Jesus is going to come and make everything all right?

[Bitsko]

Hold the presses -- Thomas Friedman is right on a subject for once? Great day in the morning!

[bwilder]

McNotGreen has horribly 'misunderestimated ' the sense
of urgency the country is feeling about this matter
and is going to drop his dentures when he realizes that
the power behind the Green movement far outweighs
any impact Miss Anti-Abortion Even in the Case of
Rape or Incest provides.

I have two sons both ages 19 and 25 and Green is of HUGE
importance to them and their friends. These young people
plan to vote this year as do so many more than ever in
the country's history. Who are they voting for- Obama / Biden

[GibbaMang]

Friedman hit the nail on the head with this insight: Palin’s nomination for vice president and her desire to allow drilling in the Alaskan wilderness “reminded me of a lunch I had three and half years ago with one of the Russian trade attachés,” global trade consultant Edward Goldberg said to me. “After much wine, this gentleman told me that his country was very pleased that the Bush administration wanted to drill in the Alaskan wilderness. In his opinion, the amount of product one could actually derive from there was negligible in terms of needs. However, it signified that the Bush administration was not planning to do anything to create alternative energy, which of course would threaten the economic growth of Russia.”

It is in our National Security to be energy independent. John McSame can't seem to grasp that concept.

[fiskz]

Why are you just talking about two candidates. Research all the candidates running maybe Green Party candidate Mckinney will offer what your are looking for or Libertarian Barr and the others. Vote with your heart and conscience and don't waste your vote by only considering the major two.

[KillTheMessenger]

So you are not wasting your vote by voting for McKinney or Barr? I mean, according to the US electoral system, a vote for one of these candidates will actually give them political influence for the next four years?

:-)

[Bitsko]

Trust me, I've been voting for many many years for third party candidates, and though it might sooth my soul to do so, it's gets me nowhere. Politics is about power, and you don't get power until you get a person elected. So I hold my nose and vote for someone who at least agrees with most of my views.

[UnbiasView]

"Research all the candidates running maybe Green Party candidate Mckinney"

Ha . . . Ha . . . Green Party . . . LOL . . .

Read this and let me know if you think the Green Party is legit . . . Hip Hop Activism . . LOL

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tamika-thompson/green-party-vp-candidate_b_117289.html

[research]

World Wide the Green party is doing quite well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_party

Th US system is very anti new parties.

[dwmulenex]

McCain has never been green, except with envy that night he stood in front of the lime jello gel before a few people and sneered at his own failed humor. Being green requires optimism about what can be done without pandering to big oil, coal and gas, and humility, a willingness to accept that we shouldn't be using a quarter of the world's energy to fill up SUVs and manufacture weapons. the current GDP leader, up 16 percent last quarter thanks to wars waged by Bush-Cheney to be as long and costly as possible. The current Defense fuel bill jumped $400 million this past July. Reducing wars and ending them will free up resources needed for energy security, food security, clean water, and better public health. Beyond that, a green program needs to be gutsy and honest, investing only in non carbon technologies whose costs now put them above the cost curve of the current technological frontier. The problem with all all fuels strategy like McCain's is that it allows profitable oil and gas to be equally subsidized, thereby maintaining a market dominance we can no longer afford. ExxonMobil will accept lower profit to starve solar, wind, hydrogen, and smart grid give and take systems, waiting until the subsidies fail to generate affordable technologies developed from prototypes in limited production. This is the heart of the McCain carbon as long as it lasts plan, and it is as black as black can be.

[jbd]

The US military is one of the worlds largest energy consumers. This fact comes into play when many political decisions are made.

[KillTheMessenger]

For anyone who ever thought McCain was "green", I have a national park full of timber on sale.

No, wait! I don't. But Senator McCain does.

[bryansmith]

McCain doubled down on a losing hand... but never "misunderestimate" the GOP's ability to shift the sands beneath our feet

[bryansmith]

It is interesting that McCain began his lurch to the right, AFTER he won the nomination. He hired members of the original Bush campaign and enlisted the help of social conservatives the world over. And now, at a time when any other candidate would be keeping a keen eye on the middle, John McCain makes his biggest rightward leap yet by selecting Sarah Palin.

Yes, McCain is a maverick. But, not in the sense he would have us believe. No, the "take on big oil" (choke), "opposed his own party on important matters" maverick he depicted in his Olymics ads. No, McCain is the reckless, out of control, dangerously irresponsible maverick that killed Goose. He has lost all sense of direction, and has sucumbed to the powers that be within his own party. WHEN his health begins to take a turn for the worse, there will be nothing left to gaurd us from the extreme right, which, by the way, has led us to this place of record deficits, insecurity and deminished world standing.

This election was supposed to be a referendum on neo-conservatism, and now, as if he hadn't already, McCain has doubled down on thier agenda.

Be afraid!