Debate Review

As I anticipated, the Presidential debate on Tuesday did a superficial job of addressing issues of climate change. All in all, it was to be expected, considering the length of the debate, the pre-determined questions, and the overwhelming immediacy of the financial crisis. Unfortunately, we seem incapable of choosing based on anything other than a made-for-television-entertainment debate. We're conditioned to absorb information in smaller and smaller bites/bytes, and there is no real platform for serious discourse.

Fortunatley, there was one direct question, courtesy of Ms. Ingrid Jackson, on climate change. The answers were vague, as you may expect when the candidates are only given two minutes. Surprisingly, McCain's answer to the direct question of climate change didn't talk much about off-shore drilling. Instead he focused on the virtues of nuclear power. He even managed to pronounce it correctly. Said McCain:

What's the best way of fixing it? Nuclear power. Sen. Obama says that it has to be safe or disposable or something like that... I was on Navy ships that had nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is safe, and it's clean, and it creates hundreds of thousands of jobs.

I don't doubt that more nuclear power plants are in our future, although despite McCain's assurances, there remains very real concerns about waste disposal. This was about as concrete as the Republican got on the subject. He did mention that it was a part of an overall strategy including "alternative fuels, wind, tide, solar, natural gas, clean coal technology." The specifics on these were non-existent.

Obama, for his part, was a bit more concrete in his answer, although not exactly specific. He said:

I've called for an investment of $15 billion a year over 10 years. Our goal should be, in 10 year's time, we are free of dependence on Middle Eastern oil. And we can do it. Now, when JFK said we're going to the Moon in 10 years, nobody was sure how to do it, but we understood that, if the American people make a decision to do something, it gets done...

We're going to have to come up with alternatives, and that means that the United States government is working with the private sector to fund the kind of innovation that we can then export to countries like China that also need energy and are setting up one coal power plant a week.

My favorite moment of the debate came when the candidates had to say what sacrifices they would ask the American people to make. McCain used his time to talk about a spending freeze and earmarks and eliminating government programs. It wasn't his best moment. Obama's answer, on the other hand, was a highlight for me:

Each and every one of us can start thinking about how can we save energy in our homes, in our buildings. And one of the things I want to do is make sure that we're providing incentives so that you can buy a fuel efficient car that's made right here in the United States of America, not in Japan or South Korea, making sure that you are able to weatherize your home or make your business more fuel efficient. And that's going to require effort from each and every one of us.

Climate change is usually framed as an economy issue in these debates, and in many ways that is ok. Hopefully economic concerns will help drive the move to a greener way of life. But this was the only time we heard about individual responsibility. Perhaps Americans don't want to sacrifice. I remember Obama being openly mocked for his suggestion that we all keep our tires inflated. That was a low moment in the campaign. Maybe now, in the midst of a truly cripply financial crisis, Americans will be more open to the idea of sacrifice. We may not have a choice anymore.