McCain gave a big climate speech at a wind turbine company in Oregon today. I’m writing this as the Sox drop the third out of four to the Twins, and I’m thinking, dammit, I deserve a simple world in which I can have clear binary opinions. Boston should win all the time, McCain should be wrong about everything and say so, America is good, everyone else is bad except maybe Canada…that sort of thing.
No such luck. I know, God is in the details, some of what he said was vague and weaselable, he got price and cost (of nuclear reactors) mixed up, cap-and-trade (the banner he raised) is not as good as a carbon charge, maybe he doesn’t really mean it, quibble quibble yada yada: this was an admirable speech. He came out flatfootedly for a lot more nuclear power, he didn’t suck up to the corn lobby or ag interests, and he said the issue is urgent. He admitted it wasn’t fair for China and India to have missed a century of getting rich burning fossil fuels but that was tough, and they have to step up.
I would have awarded him a K if he had said right out that decarbonizing the world will be expensive and that no-one will get out of it without paying some dues. But this kind of discourse is a very good development. Obama will not be able to foul off challenges like this and wait for a walk: he needs to swing at it from his heels, which means being even straighter and more honest and getting his policies even better aligned with the task. It’s time for him to cut his home-state corn and coal people loose and get ahead of McCain on this really big issue. I’m letting myself dream, tentatively, about a campaign that treats us like grownups…
