The ad then goes onto hit him on gas prices and on 'raising taxes.'
I've thought for awhile and I still think that McCain might have something with gas prices. Like 2004, where gay marriage brought all the Conservatives out for Bush, people might just vote with their pocketbooks and go with McCain this year. I'm worried, seriously, seriously worried about this, because gas prices could win McCain the election. It could be that simple- the first one to get a better plan for cheaper costs at the pump could honestly win.
The problem Obama has is that the environmental movement is attached to the Democratic Party at the hip and it makes sensible moves on oil and environmental issues sometimes very difficult. In the heads of normal people paying $50 or more for gasoline though, when McCain says 'we should drill for more oil here instead of paying obscene amounts for it from the Saudis' it seems fairly logical to everyone. And the Democrats can't seem to put together a coherent counter-narrative (at least not that I've seen) to explain what they're going to do and how their plan is better.
Europe is all about nuclear power because it's incredibly clean- and the next generation of nuke plants are slowly being built there as we speak. Can we get into nuclear power? Not as a permanent fix, but as a stop gap (20 years or so) for wind, solar and other green tech to be perfected and brought into production. Would that not make a lot of sense?
It would make a great deal of sense. But you can't go anywhere near nuclear power because the global warming, pro-environmental crowd will throw a fit. Even though it's the most sensible idea out there- unless people prefer paying $4 gas and having coal plants pump more C02 into the atmosphere?
Nancy Pelosi has weighed in with: this. But it's all well and good and sounds great, but people don't care. They want to know from point A to point B to point C how exactly they can get cheaper gas in a hurry. 'Get More Oil On The Market' (The GOP/McCain plan) is a simpler answer than:
Today, the New Direction Congress will vote on legislation to bring down gas prices by taking crucial steps to curb excessive speculation in the energy futures market. The president himself could lower prices by drawing down a small portion of our government oil stockpile, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The New Direction Congress will continue to bring forth responsible proposals to increase supply, reduce prices, protect consumers, and transition America to a clean, renewable energy independent future.
First of all: the New Direction Congress? Seriously? One hopes that given their ratings right now, that new direction could maybe be 'up' because if you get worse ratings than President Bush, people really don't like you all that much.
Second of all: Does what I'm saying make sense? The axiom for getting messages out in an election year, should be, to me a very old and simple one: K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid. People want to know that their President can handle nuance and the big complicated ideas, yes (no, I'm not saying we as the electorate should be treated like idiots) but at the same time, winning an election means scoring points- and the simpler the message and the plan, the more points you can score.
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