On September 25th, Nature magazine published 'Choosing A Future,' telling us more about where each presidential candidate stands on science related topics. And despite the humorous and uncanny similarities of the front and back covers, this is a very serious issue because it outlines some differences in their strategies. Not surprisingly, of particular interest to me are their positions on oil drilling which I've posted over at NexGen.
The gist:
Obama: Don't expand domestic drilling and reduce dependence on oil altogether.
McCain: Drill Baby Drill! and expand offshore-drilling.
The full rundown from both candidates on America's energy future is available here from the team at ScienceDebate2008.
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Well, it appears to be no surprise as to whom you'll be voting for this November. However, McCain's position is a far bit more than just drilling for more oil.
Perhaps until the election is over, this site should be renamed: Politic Blogs, though Obama Blogs is probably more appropriate.
Judging from the debate, Obama supports far more drilling, in part I suspect because the idea seems also to have popular support. He did a poor job explaining why more drilling will have a negligible impact.
From a climate standpoint, additional drilling has virtually no impact.
However, energy independence is a fairy tale, and will not be achieved. It is possible that the coming energy crisis may have been averted in the short term if serious mitigation had started in the 1970s. That point is far in the past.
In my opinion, the most likely scenario is that energy from all sources will become an increasingly scarce commodity. That will be serious indeed. It will make the current financial crisis seems like a pleasant stroll in the park.
Eric: I disagree with your opinion. I think we need to follow not only the path to energy independence, but the path of energy conservation. We need to do everything we can to cut down on vampiric energy usage (which accounts for ~10% of our energy expenditures annually), and we need to work on efficient renewable energy. Those two things, I believe, can play a large part in helping us achieve energy independence, and providing us with enough energy to sustain a global economy.