Obama Pro-Coal Ad Panders To Kentucky Voters

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama launched a new TV ad this weekend featuring an Illinois miner praising the the him for work on coal issues.

"Washington, D.C., is not listening to us," said Randy Henry, who is identified as a miner for 31 years. "Barack understands it." The ad is running in the Lexington and Bowling Green television markets, Obama's campaign confirmed.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[KillTheMessenger]

Coal is bad. Really bad. But clean coal is a lot better than old coal. There is absolutely no way we will get rid of coal for the next fifty years. As much as I am an environmentalist and want to stop global warming... I don't see how we can get rid of it without passing new laws of nature, first. Senator Obama is, once again, a pragmatist who choses the doable over the ideal. It hurts me to see the reality of it, but in the end, I have to agree with him. We need to clean up coal as much as we can because it will make a huge difference.

[CocteausTwin]

If it is on Youtube then why isn't it embedded like every other Youtube video?

[CocteausTwin]

I guess you cannot have everything you want in a politician.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkB6UW4cFIQ
(the political ad)

But this one still hurts me, an Obama supporter.

[poco767]

This isn't a pander, he has been pro coal for along time.
It is however a bad policy. Clean coal is a myth, you cannot be for Coal and for reducing CO2 emissions.

[KillTheMessenger]

You can not expect to replace coal completely in the short term future. It is just not going to happen. If all you can do is to take 10% off the edge of coal, the billions of investment needed for that will have made a huge difference.

[Midnightrain]

I read the full story and took away from it the fact that there's no easy solution to our ecological reality: our economic structure is at odds with environmental concerns and we're going to have to do a fine balancing act not to completely destroy either.

[Midnightrain]

Okay, Obama panders and he's a politician ... now that's news!

[Marrob]

Hillary "panders" regarding gas price and her "Gas Tax Holiday" and the media and ObamaLovers rip her a new assh***. Let's see how they handle the "Golden Boy".

[BlackLeatherRain]

Just KY? I hope they're running this in WV, too!!

[Paula1953]

Obama has spoken several times in his speeches about clean coal. Just Saturday in Bend, Oregon he spoke about this issue. To say that he is only now addressing this issue is wrong. I have watched each and every speech possible from the beginning and he has talked about it numerous times.

[Marrob]

You full of something that the word "It". On Obama'd wedsite he talks about coal but he has NEVER up to this point talk about George Bush's "Clean Coal" program.

[ThirdSection]

I thought he gave a good, honest, and detailed answer to the coal question.

[FredOCal]

I find it interesting that nobody has commented on this terrible bit of pandering. At this point, I'm for Obama, as he's the best we have, but it is clear that "Clean Coal" is an oxymoron. First, the process of obtaining the coal itself has a huge environmental impact. Then there are the costs of sequestering the carbon as well as potentially harmful byproducts. This is an irresponsible and counterproductive policy that reflects either poor judgment on Obama's part (I hope this is the case), or it represents the worst kind of political opportunism, which is exactly why I lost faith in Hillary when she became a Senator and voted for bankruptcy legislation that she forced Bill to veto when she was First Lady.

[KillTheMessenger]

The reality is that coal simply won't go away. It wouldn't go away even if we all became 100% pure environmentalists tomorrow. The only way to turn off coal is to switch the lights out and nobody is going to do that. I believe the politically pragmatic judgment is that if we have to live with coal we need to attempt to make it better. As much as that sucks... unless somebody changes the laws of nature for us, we are screwed on this one.

[TheRealMacDaddy]

The headline of this article is definitely misleading!

Sen. Obama has been a proponent of Clean Coal Technology for quite some time, unlike Sen. Clinton who resently sent out mailers touting her support for the issue (hmmmm, when did she change that position?)

I think I do remember quite clearly, Sen Clinton denigrating Sen. Obama's position on Clean Coal about a year ago. Now all the sudden it's one of her favorite things? I don't think so...it is just another incident of her thinking she can dupe Americans like she did with the Gas Tax Holiday!

[Paula1953]

No matter what happens in WV or KY I think Obama has done an impeccable job in his run for the nomination considering he has had to outrun the Clinton's three to one. They run helter skelter like chickens with their heads cut off criss crossing the states while Obama can only be in one place at a time.
His narrow loss of 1.4% in Indiana shows me that even though the Clinton machine was in full force he still did very well overall with voters in Indiana. With any luck and some open minds maybe he will do better than the polls show in WV and KY.

[kellygrrrl]

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't!

simultaneous to this story, the other story running is the faux shock that Obama is not in WV today.

[copesthetics]

where's the pandering?

[alm123]

If I were to hire someone, I would not seek information to which political party they are affiliated with, but information regarding their accomplishments. Obama has next to nothing! I don"t give a damn about the Democratic Party; and I"m a life long Democrat. I will vote the most qualified, experienced candidate who has the track record that has proven them to be a fighter for ALL Americans. Hillary Clinton has the best credentials next to John McCain. Change will come Day One because experience will dictate what worked in the past and what will work in the future. With experience comes the wisdom of not only recognizing your strengths, but your weakness. With experience comes the integrity of accepting your failures and never repeating mistakes. Hillary has a history of fighting for what is right for all Americans. Her experience will lead America in the right direction. I will vote Experience before Speculative Change.

[TheRealMacDaddy]

Cont.

I will provide an example, the "Gas Tax Holiday". Hillary frequently said she would "Fight to get 'hard-working' Americans a 3 month respite in gasoline tax. Do you actually think she or that other "Experienced" lawmaker, John McCain, could come even close to getting something like that onto the Floor of the Senate just to be debated? If you said yes, you aren't in tune with this country. Sen. Obama, could have did just like Hillary did when John McCain suggested this (and it was McCain's idea first) and jumped onto the "Give Americans a Dollar a Day Gas Tax Break" Bandwagon.

But he didn't. Why? Because he learned from his mistake! He supported a Gas Tax Holiday in Illinois that when it was over had done nothing to reduce gas prices and lost revenue needed to build and repair roads, which in turn cost jobs.

Again, I don't want a President that "is going to fight" for me. I want a President that will end the War in Iraq (and who would have been smart enough not to vote for it in the first place), who will propose reasonable policies with regards to social issues, energy and foreign relations.

[TheRealMacDaddy]

The biggest fault in this argument IS: Hillary Clinton HAS NOT learned from past mistakes!

She stood right next to her husband as he looked into the camera (meaning the face of America) and with a straight face lied to the American People. She saw what that episode did to our country and to the Office of the President.

Yet she too looked right into the camera and with a straight face LIED to the same American People with her "I was dodging sniper fire" speeches (yes I said speeches as she retold this story several times). Also, please someone explain to me where all this "EXPERIENCE and HISTORY" comes from? This lady has held public office for 7 years. Prior to that she worked for her CLIENTS and CORPORATIONS like WALMART when she wasn't deciding what menu to have the cooks prepare.

I frequently hear Clintonites say "She will fight for all Americans", well I don't want someone in the White House who is a "FIGHTER". I want someone who is a THINKER! I want someone who is going to THINK, a PRAGMATIST not someone who has to fight because the ideas they are pushing are not all they are cracked up to be!

[AMJordan]

Once again, I'm asking politely, could you please tell me some of Senator Clinton's accomplishments? Seriously. Maybe I'm wrong about my candidate and I want information. Can you convince me?

[ebbtide]

I would say one of the very best fighting credentials she has is her skill and running abilities as she dodged that sniper fire in Bosnia, wouldn't you?

She is not much of a fighter I would say.

[dollars2donuts]

Obama will no doubt lose Kentucky by a huge margin because

1) Billary is stoking white hatred and resentment toward blacks and Obama among uneducated low information white voters; they are pouring salt on the earth in WVa and KY so they will hate Obama and never vote for him in the GE;
2) It is clear that states with greater than 6% blacks and less than 17% blacks go toward Hillary very consistently and predictably, and here's why:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3597/the_clinton_firewall/

[jpcline004]

Great link, thanks for sharing.

[timm0]

Yes, he's going to lose... which makes me all the more irritated at him pushing for "clean coal." It was a great idea to pursue, but the research indicates the energy needed to mine and clean the coal and then clean up after the mining makes it a bad deal. So why sell out when there's no one who will really vote for you anyway?!?!

Very disappointing.

[jah2008]

"Hell, here in PA, coal is one of - if not THE - largest industry in the state.... we never heard boo about clean coal in his ads."

Obama has been talking about clean coal energy for a long time now. No one in the media talked about it. If I remember correctly, Obama was inundated with Rev.Wright and "bitter" issue for two months prior to PA priamry. There was the infamous ABC debate - flag pin, bitter comment, Rev, Wright, Ayers, Hamas, Farrakhan, etc. All of the MSM were running Rev.Wright coverage 24/7. There was absolutely no room for Obama to bring real issues except to defend himself on Rev.Wright and all the rest.

[timm0]

You copied my comment but apparently didn't read it. The article was about a campaign ad. My comment spoke specifically about "ads." I'm not discussing press coverage or stump speeches because they don't hit as many people as broadcast ads. We're all well aware of the "serious media's" hard-on for stupid nonsense - but that's not cogent to my point.

[OriginalScreenName]

For one big reason: Coal is the single greatest known energy source on the planet, and the US has TONs of it. To give up on research for using clean coal is ludicrous. Current research says that it is a problem, but that doesn't mean some ingenious method cannot be devised. You cannot schedule or plan innovation. You can only attempt to fund it. Just like I'm all about funding NASA, I'm all about funding Green Energy research.

[timm0]

Tell that to the people who've had their properties destroyed by environmental impacts of strip mining and water pollution near the sites of mines.

But the bottom line is that coal is a finite resource - let's not get too worked up over nor too deeply vested into a temporary solution. The best solutions are all those that are focused on renewable resources.

[robXdion]

If he didn't make the effort that would be seen by the MSM as just as dismissive and "elite".

[timm0]

OK, I'll buy into the argument that you need to pacify some elements of the MSM - but just for the sake of argument....

If Obama is going to throw some token issue at the voters, why pick this issue which is really not a very sound energy policy? Couldn't he have thrown some other bone? Hell, here in PA, coal is one of - if not THE - largest industry in the state.... we never heard boo about clean coal in his ads.

My point is, there are so many genuine issues out there that effect KY residents, why pick this?