Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News wrote a wrap-up of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. In it he mentions a certain man with a certain plan…
Is there any good news? Yes, I found general agreement on 1-1/2 things. The half agreement is that, while they have wildly different views on Iraq, Obama and McCain are committed to defeating the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. This is real progress on a key security issue.
The one major area where I found a near total consensus is that we’ve got to dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Obama and McCain sound like T. Boone Pickens, who calculates we’re shipping about $700 billion a year to other countries to feed our addiction. They promise their own version of the Manhattan Project to radically change our energy policies, which have huge implications for our economy, security and environment.
Of course, even this consensus comes with differences. McCain, like Pickens, believes we should drill for more oil offshore, while Obama doesn’t. And McCain is more bullish on nuclear power than Obama.
But those differences are about the details of how we solve the problem rather than whether we have a problem, so energy policy would be a great place to start the new administration in January. Imagine it: The next President pledges to enlist the best people in America, no matter what party they belong to, to solve the crisis. The unified approach might begin a revolution as people start believing they can actually make a difference in other areas as well, instead of just taking sides.