The Democrats’ Visionary Posted on Jul 17, 2008
By E.J. Dionne
On the issue of gasoline prices, Republicans think they have a winner in their call for new drilling and Democrats are playing defense. Democrats need—this is a technical term—a lot more oomph. Al Gore wants to help them.
In a speech Thursday and in an interview, Gore played his usual role as unpaid party visionary by arguing that we can ease the climate crisis, the economic crisis and the crisis of dependence on foreign energy all at once.
“We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet,” Gore said in his speech. “Every bit of that’s got to change.” He urges a 10-year goal for getting 100 percent of our electricity from renewable sources and clean, rather than carbon-based, fuels.
It sounds like a typical, idealistic Al Gore idea. But two things about this proposal merit attention. It points a country that uses too much energy down the right path. And Gore is showing that being environmentally responsible is economically sensible.
Democrats should be concerned about where they are on the gas-price issue right now, and the party’s own strategists are worried that its response so far is inadequate.
What the Democrats have been saying about the Bush administration’s energy record is certainly true: The money taxpayers threw at the oil and gas industry in Vice President Cheney’s energy plan did nothing to help consumers at the pump.
And promises that more offshore drilling would magically bring down prices are not backed up by the evidence. “We have been drilling for more oil, and the prices have gone up,” Gore said in the interview. “A lot more oil has been found, a lot more has been produced.” ......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080717_al_gore_to_the_rescue/?ln
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