President Obama reiterated his desire to end tax breaks for big oil and reaffirmed his support for new sources of energy like solar, wind and biofuels. The President also stated that his administration has helped to create 5 million new private sector jobs. To increase these numbers the President wants to invest in education and create 2 million new places in community colleges.
For his part, Mitt Romney said “I like coal!” He wants to see the tar sands pipeline ferry dirty oil through the US. He repeated the old Republican refrain of energy independence through more fossil fuel. He also wants to do away with “excessive” regulations.
The President said we tried Romney’s approach in 2001 and 2003 and what we got was the slowest job growth in 50 years. Romney chided Obama for 90 billion dollars worth of government investment in green energy.
Obama has offered a detailed plan for how he will achieve his goals, Romney is deliberately withholding specifics but as the President said his math does not add up.
Early polls among likely voters show that Romney won the debate with 67 percent of respondents giving him the victory while only 25 percent favor Obama.
Romney did make an impression. Time will tell whether it will be enough to win him the Presidency and fire-up America’s coal powered future. A Romney Presidency will not only abandon clean air and water it will entrench conservatives on the supreme court. Not less than 2 supreme court justices will retire in the next four years and Romney will appoint new judges ensuring a conservative stranglehold on the highest court in the land.
Romney said he likes green energy too. If anyone believes that, they deserve 4 years of dirty air and water. But what about the rest of us, do we also deserve to have our air and water contaminated by 4 years of environmentally irresponsible leadership? Do we deserve a President who will grow a 19th century economy and undermine American competitiveness? Do we also deserve a President who will drive up GHG emissions and make it impossible to tackle climate change?
See the related articles below to review Obama’s green accomplishments. Below that you will find a summary of Mitt Romney and the GOP’s war on the environment.