Two "change" candidates, Mike Huckabee for the GOP and Barack Obama for the Dems, emerged on top in the Iowa caucuses, but there was scant coverage in last night’s vote analysis on TV about climate change issues.
Well, indeed there are lots of things in this country that need changing, but apparently global warming isn’t yet a top-tier issue on candidates’ and voters’ agendas.
There was plenty of talk about Iraq, "faith," jobs and taxes in Iowa's living rooms, but I wonder how much discussion there was about a new Kyota protocol or recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moves to ease off on automakers about tightening limits on tailpipe emissions. The EPA, for now, succeeded in heading off moves by California and numerous other states to impose more stringent standards.
Maybe there was some of this talk about green issues. Without a doubt, Iowa caucusers did democracy proud with there face-to-face engagement in the political process.
Meanwhile, yes, all of the candidates have positions on green issues, and there are many shades of gray. As we outlined, Huckabee opposes mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, but he did sign into law a token conservation sales tax when he served as the Arkansas governor.
And, Obama says when he moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he would assign a price tag to a ton of carbon emissions, thus upping the ante in the carbon trading market.
Far from a "solution," but it would be a positive step.
However, as noted in a New York Times editorial, "The One Environmental Issue," there has been little serious debate about the climate change issues in candidate chit-chats. The editorial cited a recent study that found that major "talk-show hosts had collectively asked 2,275 questions of candidates in both parties. Only 24 of the questions even touched on climate change."
Well, it’s on to New Hampshire.
On the GOP side, John McCain is expected to mount a more serious campaign there than he did in Iowa. McCain is the only Republican presidential candidate to favor government-imposed restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.
One would have thought that Al Gore’s Nobel Prize would have brought climate-change issues more to the fore in the political arena. Let’s hope the issue heats up a bit.