Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Russert to Obama: Why Do You Hate Cheap Gas?

From the tone of Tim Russert's question on Meet the Press last week, you'd think Barack Obama was denying food to starving children:
MR. RUSSERT: Why are you against giving taxpayers in Indiana, North Carolina, a relief from federal gasoline tax this summer?
The nerve of that Obama! You know what other jerks are against giving taxpayers in Indiana and North Carolina "relief" (a term once limited to hardcore libertarian propaganda, now a common in the media)? Taxpayers in Indiana and North Carolina.

It may have marked a turning point in America's energy policies. While Hillary Clinton and John McCain have tried to pander to voters by offering them cheap gas, it's backfired. Americans are finally saying they don't want short-term cheap gas -- they want solutions that would take long-term pressure off energy prices, like more fuel efficient cars and American-made renewable energy.

Now that the Indiana and North Carolina primaries are behind us, the media has finally recognized this, crediting Barack Obama's willingness to stand up to Hillary Clinton with his resurgence.

How out of touch was the media on this issue? For sports fans, this is roughly equivalent to, while the winners are celebrating on the pitcher's mound, standing up and confidently predicting the World Series champs.

The Green Miles has been way behind on criticism of media coverage of environmental issues this campaign season. So this week, you get a double dose. Tomorrow, I'll take a look at Hillary Clinton's appearance on ABC's This Week.

1 comment:

adrian2514 said...

Hey! Thanks for the great article about Obama's position on energy. I agree that we should not settle for short-term solutions to high gas prices. We need to look out for our future!
I was browsing through a bunch of green websites and blogs and I came across yours and found it very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like the daily green, ecorazzi and earthlab.com. I especially like EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). I find it really easy to use (it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any others you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites (let me know if they are the same as mine).