Better Planet » Obama

Palin Discovers Climate Change

Benjamin Nugent — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:40:26 +0000

She just denied she ever denied manmade global warming. On ABC News. And got easily schooled by the press after.

I can appreciate the tragedy of her situation. She denied man-made climate change quite explicitly twice. Part of her whole thing is that she’s not a duplicitous Washington type. And she’s an unconventionally-educated woman of the people. So why not stay with the ill-informed thing? But there’s only so far you can go in that direction with the moderate wing of her party, and with independents.

I feel like the Obama campaign’s fate will rest partly on whether they can knock Palin off her pedestal in the coming weeks. This should give them something to work with.

Image: flickr/zieak

Palin’s Achilles Heel

Benjamin Nugent — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:05:55 +0000

There is much speculation about how Obama should go after Sarah Palin. If he goes after her resume—she was mayor of a town of 7,000, then the governor of a state of 680,000—that leaves him open to the absurd but potentially effective argument that these credentials are superior to those of a senator. If he goes after her evident backwardness or unusually conservative religious beliefs, the gun/bikini photo, the never traveled anywhere thing—well, we know how the clinging to guns and religion thing went over.

It seems to me you say, she thinks the melting of arctic ice isn’t caused by humans. She thinks polar bears aren’t endangered. She doesn’t think Exxon should have to pay up. All those non-radical conservatives in Colorado, Ohio, and Nevada care about this. (See this recap of her record so far). It’s not a personal attack, and it’s not just a reiteration of the tired McCain administration = Bush administration charge.

It’s just a way of making the effects of her ignorance concrete. She’s not just a smiling hick in a bathing suit holding a gun by a pool. She’s a smiling hick in a bathing suit standing on a melting iceberg.

Image: flickr/Chesi – Fotos CC

The First Energy Election?

Benjamin Nugent — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:47:01 +0000

It would be easy to feel deflated today. Obama’s expressed a new willingness to accept some offshore oil drilling. McCain’s been gaining a little traction in polls, narrowing the gap to maybe 3 points, maybe zero, and part of it may be his aggressive advocacy of new drilling (offshore and in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge) to lower gas prices. On the face of it, not the most inspiring bits of news.

The happy flipside: the polls also show that energy is the top issue for voters, ahead of Iraq. That’s a stark contrast with 2004, when large swaths of the nation obsessed over gay marriage even as the war became a full-on disgrace. The upside of every American getting whaled in the head with $4/gallon gas every week is that as a result the electorate is actually thinking about the most important issue. When was the last time that was the case? 1944?

Image: flickr/416style

Good News: Arnold to Go Al Gore?

Benjamin Nugent — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:34:01 +0000

Smog isn’t the only phenomenon slowly permeating the middle of the continent from its homeland in California. Our governor, a former actor noted for his understated performances, has expressed a desire to travel the land talking about the environment. Maybe even under an Obama presidency.

I think this is good. The nice thing about Schwarzenegger is that people think of him as a mute death-dealing golem on a motorcycle. This is the opposite of a self-aggrandizing sighing guy in a suit. If Arnold truly espouses policy solutions that break with those of the conservatives in his own party, directly criticizing his foot-dragging colleagues, as he has in the past, it will be that much harder for people to portray the green movement as a bunch of people with ponytails who cradle owls in their arms.

Image: flickr/provos@monkey