Politics of Today

2008 is an election year today's news has been found to be dominated heavily by just that. Election coverage can be found nightly on almost every news television station. If not on a TV, then the coverage is definitely covered in newspapers and Internet sites alike. One topic that I have been attempting to pay close attention to has been the energy crisis debate. With my history of working for Dominion Resources, I have a new understanding about the energy field and some of the many things that go on within a power company in our nation. The candidates have debated and made their cases. I know that I have already decided to back Barack Obama, now it's almost time for you to decide who the candidate is that you plan to support.

Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama have all laid out plain and simple what their plan is for our energy future. The only difference is the importance on each candidates list and how hard it was to find their 'simple' plans. Hillary Clinton listed issues on her website to what I believed were the most important to her campaign, where Energy was listed as the fourth out of fifteen. It sat only behind strengthening the middle class, affordable health care, and ending the war in Iraq. I think that I can accept that for now. She has an comprehensive 12-point plan to changing America's current state. She wants to incorporate carbon emission programs forcing utilities and industries to make cleaner and more efficient energy. One of the big things for electric utilities is clean coal technology, because this would force many companies to invest heavily in changing over their current plant into a different view.

John McCain's energy plan I believe was the most simple out of the three candidates. Just because it is simple however, does not mean it is the best solution for our future. John McCain's website shows his plan, but also his lack of interest in this topic of our nation's energy. McCain has a three line plan to solve all of our problems.

"He has offered common sense approaches to limit carbon emissions by harnessing market forces that will bring advanced technologies, such as nuclear energy, to the market faster, reduce our dependence on foreign supplies of energy, and see to it that America leads in a way that ensures all nations do their rightful share."

I dont know about you, but for me, I'd like a little bit more reassurance about what is to come with out nation. Renewable energies, fossil fuels, and global warming as a result of much energy consumption is currently a big factor on my radar and will only become a larger part if I am to join an electric company post graduation.

Barack Obama decided to go into the most depth with his plan for changing our nation's energy future. A detailed 19-point plan as to the changes he wants to implement are led into by a section discussing the problems that we currently have. On his website, he is the only candidate to lay out the problems before beginning to discuss the solutions that he wants to put into place. He also includes his speech on energy and his energy plan. For a candidate who is willing to place that much information for his plans out in the public, there is no way he can run for election with a platform such as that and not implement those plans if elected. I believe that he will bring a sense of energy security that this nation needs in the future.

We all know that it will not happen overnight, but every knows that good things take time. I don't expect Barack Obama to be an instantaneous hit with the nation immediately after he takes over, especially while adjusting to new members in the Senate and Congress. Given the proper amount of time, I expect to see some wonderful changes to come in the future though that will make our nation as a whole a much better place to live.