One thing that the MSM and the liberal blogosphere have had in common over the last month is a portrayal of Sen. Barrack Obama as something of an empty suit. Often, well we'll test how honest both are with their coverage of Obama's new greenhouse gas emission reduction plan.
Senator Obama has announced a plan to cut greenhouse gases from automobile transit significantly by 2020.
From the Guardian:
``We've been talking about climate change in Washington for years and energy independence and efficiency for years,'' Obama said. ``But no matter how many scientists testified about greenhouse gases, no matter how much evidence that they're threatening our coasts and endangering our weather patterns, nothing happened with global warming until now.''
The specifics of the plan aren't that complicated, and amount to basic common sense, which has eluded the congress and the administration to date.
Obama says the fuel used to power automobiles should contain less of the carbon that contributes to global warming - enough to make the same impact as taking 32 million cars off the road.
``I believe we still have a chance to pass on a planet to our children that is cleaner and safer and more prosperous than we found it,'' Obama said. ``This is our generation's moment to save future generations from global catastrophe.''
Obama's approach echoes California's. The state's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, issued an executive order this year requiring all fuels sold in the state to contain less carbon. The goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from passenger vehicles 10 percent by 2020.
The Obama campaign said its effort would take that plan nationally. Specifically, Obama wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars by 5 percent in 2015 and 10 percent in 2020.
There's more though.
Obama also has proposed a bill in the Senate that would raise fuel efficiency standards. If that were enacted and combined with his carbon program, it would cut about 583 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2020, the equivalent of taking about 96 million cars off the road.
We're never going to get everyone in the country driving a plug-in hybrid in the next twelve years (although we should still try). That should not stop us though from providing leadership on common sense policies that will curtail the alarming rise in CO2 emissions from vehicles. Implementing a national fuel standard and coupling it with a fuel efficiency standard in vehicles is a vertible pincer movement against CO2 emissions, and represents progressive ideas rooted in pragmatism. Obama's approach to this issue is typical of his approach to policy. Progressive values backed with common sense solutions that appeal to the average non-political American.
I'm sure there will be more to come.