In which I reluctantly wade back into the political muck...

I've really been avoiding a lot of the news lately - I am pretty depressed about our (the US's) choices in the upcoming presidential election. My blogging counterpart, you have probably noticed, is throwing himself wholeheartedly into the McCain campaign. And while I can certainly sympathize with his anti-Obama feelings in many cases, I just can't ignore my anti-McCain feelings on many other issues. That we have come to this - where I can't even choose a "lesser of the two evils" candidate to vote for - is profoundly depressing. My usual "go to" policy of voting Libertarian has even lost it's appeal, as I have some issues with Bob Barr also. When all is said and done though, that is probably what I will do. I know it's a "wasted vote", although here in NY ANY vote not for Obama is a "wasted vote". I don't want to be even partially responsible for putting either Obama or McCain in office though.

Having said all of that, sometimes I find myself sitting in the cafeteria here at work, watching CNN (which is the only channel they allow us to put on the company tv). And CNN has been showing various McCain/Obama speeches live. And sometimes I hear something in a speech which makes me go "HUH?" more than usual & I feel compelled to investigate further. So it has been with Obama's "energy policy". I put that in quotes because it's less of a policy per se than a wish for the future. I saw a speech where he laid out this "policy" & I thought "I MUST be missing a big piece here - there MUST be more than what I'm hearing..." and so I went off to read all about it.

(Now unlike some people, I read all kinds of news sources - magazines, newspapers, blogs - both left, right, and Libertarian-centric. I don't ever take one side's "spin" and assume that's the full picture. In my experience very few things in life are black and white and it pays to get a lot of different angles on any given story.)

It seems that he believes—or claims to believe—that there exists some unspecified technological solution to the world's need for energy, that we'll find it within 10 years with a budget of a mere $150 billion for research into... something that's not oil, coal, or nuclear. Oh and all we need to do to tide us over in the meantime is just take enough money from American oil companies to give every family $1,000.

At the same time, he scorns McCain's plans to use known, existing, working technologies like off-shore oil drilling and nuclear power because they won't kick in fast enough. Or are otherwise flawed in ways that the unspecified technological miracle we'll get ten years from now—after Obama has left office—presumably isn't.

When I see stuff like this, I totally get why people make the Obama/Jesus comparison - because if this policy works, it will be no less miraculous than Jesus feeding the multitudes with five loaves of bread and two fishes.


(Don't worry Obamamaniacs, in the near future I will give equal time to mocking one of Mr. McCain's "policies".)