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303 comments on What effect will the election results have on energy policy?- Open Thread

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Kiashu on November 5, 2008 - 8:02pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Being on the other side of the world might mean that you are somewhat removed from the details. Obama has recently said that "we need to rethink how we use energy" and "we are going to have to tighten our belts", not normally something a politician wants to address before an election.

I'm well aware of the details of what he's said. Since Australia likes to crawl up the bum of the US, we follow US affairs closely here, they'll affect us a lot.

What they say doesn't mean much. After all, Dubya said "America is addicted to oil", and announced funding of research for "clean energy". Sounds impressive! Ah, of course, now the drop in US oil consumption is explained, it's not a recession it's just all that clean energy kicking in!

More than words, he has to take action, and he has to have the co-operation of the Congress.

Rudd may not be moving at the speed you desire, but he's certainly much better than the person who preceded him.

Absolutely. Someone who does nothing is better than someone who does harm. But we should not confuse "nothing" with "good". In our relief to see the arsonist taken away, we should not mistake the man staring slack-jawed at the burning building with an actual fireman come to put out the fire.

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Will Stewart on November 6, 2008 - 10:19am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I wouldn't confuse what Dubya didn't do with what Obama will likely do; two more different personalities could hardly be found. First, Obama is not beholden to the oil and coal industry. Second, he's onboard with no only PO, but shortcomings of industrial agriculture.

The biggest problem with our energy policy has been to lurch from crisis to trance. And what we need is a sustained, serious effort. Now, I actually think the biggest opportunity right now is not just gas prices at the pump but the fact that the engine for economic growth for the last 20 years is not going to be there for the next 20, and that was consumer spending. I mean, basically, we turbo-charged this economy based on cheap credit. ... There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy.

I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they're contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That's just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board.
For us to say we are just going to completely revamp how we use energy in a way that deals with climate change, deals with national security and drives our economy, that's going to be my number one priority when I get into office

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/10/23/the_full_obama_interview/

If you are claiming that he will do nothing, you are simply making an unsupported pronouncement. Using Rudd as an example doesn't provide us with evidence of how Obama will tackle things. And unlike Clinton, Obama has a Democratic House and Senate. At least let him get into office and get a start before you criticize him for doing nothing.

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Kiashu on November 6, 2008 - 6:55pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm not criticising the moshiach Obama, I'm responding to the thread's question: "What impact do you expect these changes to have on energy policy in the year ahead? What legislation do you expect to actually get passed?"

My answer was "not much." This is nothing inherent in Obama himself, but in the political process, the media, the public will and so on - in democracy itself. Our elected representatives are followers, not leaders.

Thus my prediction that not much will be done. That's a response to the original question of the thread.

I realise that answering questions posed by people and speaking to the topic of an article sometimes distresses people, but I do try to do it from time to time.

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303 comments on What effect will the election results have on energy policy?- Open Thread

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