The Political Voices of Women

Here is a clip from Sen. Obama’s speech on energy, earlier today…

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What do you think of the Obama energy plan? Let me know in comments.

If you are interested in reading the full transcript of todays speech, it is here on the Obama website.This is the Obama New Energy For America Plan, as seen on his website (see full plan pdf here)…

• Provide short‐term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
• Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
• Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
• Put 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
• Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Implement an economy‐wide cap‐and‐trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

From CNN Politics…

Obama has previously said he was opposed to using the strategic reserves, but on Monday he proposed selling 70 million barrels of oil from the reserves in order to lower gas prices.

Speaking before a crowd in Lansing, Michigan, the senator from Illinois said the country’s “addiction to oil … is one of the most dangerous and urgent threats this nation has ever faced.”

Obama unveiled his energy plan, which includes a windfall profits tax on big oil corporations that would be used to provide a $1,000 rebate to people struggling with high energy costs.

Here is the full video of speech…

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Here is what other bloggers are saying about Barack Obama’s Energy Policy…

BlogHer Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest…

As the Senator discussed his very detailed New Energy for American plan, touted by Climate Progress as “…easily the best energy plan ever put forward by a nominee of either party…” republicans were emailing me to let me know they were handing out tire gauges to mock Obama’s reminders that keeping your tires properly inflated saves gas.

From MyDD…

I love the rebate plan; it’s straight from the HRC playbook and presents us with an opportunity to use a wedge issue against McCain and the pubs. McCain’s spokeswoman indicated that he was against the rebate, so Obama has a real opportunity to drive home the narrative that McCain would rather protect oil companies from taxes than provide relief to struggling families. Obama has to stick with this narrative and make his windfall profits rebate plan the primary focus of this week.

From The CarpetBagger Report…

From a purely political perspective, all of this is pretty important. It reminds voters that McCain has been around for a generation, and he’s failed ever test of energy policy miserably. It reinforces the notion that while Obama may be open to compromise, he still knows that increased coastal drilling is an ineffective Republican gimmick. And it also characterizes McCain as being even further to the right than the Bush administration.

Obama also tried to strike a balance between short-term relief and long-term wisdom.

From Blue Hampshire Politics…

I just saw the tail end of his speech today, and I was impressed. In the portion I saw, he managed to frame his position on offshore drilling as being against the massive giveaway to the oil companies that it represents — which I believe is the correct frame. It’s a massive giveaway for very little gain. We can argue about the safety and environmental concerns, but the economics of it are undisputed — millions in profits for oil companies exploiting our national resources in exchange for a 0.2% increase in global production.

Did you see the Obama speech today? What do you think about the New Obama Energy Plan? Let me know what you think in comments.