Personally, I support an aggressive "cap and trade" system (a revenue-neutral carbon tax would be even better). As someone concerned with both the environment and national security, I believe we need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels - oil and coal in particular - towards energy efficiency and clean renewable energy that is "made in America."
Having said that, I'm getting really tired of the McCain campaign's ridiculous, false (Obama's actually too much of a "clean coal" supporter for my tastes), last-minute attack on Barack Obama. As the Jed Report explains:
All you need to know to understand the video is that the Drudge, FOX, and the McCain campaign joined forces with Newsbusters to push a story that the San Francisco Chronicle had concealed an eleven month old recording that supposedly contained devastating audio of Barack Obama proposing to bankrupt the entire coal industry.
Not only was that story false (more detail below), but it turns out that Barack Obama and John McCain have the same position on clean coal technology...
I did some searching around and found this gem, from the 6/30/05 Dow Jones Business News (it's also in the Jed Report video above):
Opponents of the McCain-Lieberman proposal also argued it would cripple energy-intensive industries that feed on coal and other fossil fuels by requiring them to buy emissions credits in the open market or face fines for failing to meet the proposed caps.
"The McCain amendment will put coal out of business," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, adding "this is an unacceptable outcome from my state."
Oh, and it gets even better if you're a fan of coal. According to the Jed Report, McCain's "counterargument" Voinovich was that solving global warming will "involve some sacrifice on the part of the American people." McCain also mocks complaints that "thousands of jobs will be lost" (again, I believe that a LOT more - and higher paying - jobs will be created than eliminated as we move away from fossil fuels towards energy efficiency and renewables).
Now, I don't buy this entire line of reasoning (a topic for discussion another day, but renewable energy is definitely the wave of the future). However, if the McCain camp and his slimeball mouthpieces Drudge and Fox are going to play this idiotic game, well then so can we.