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Too
bad the plural of panda isn’t pander…
Melvyn D. Magree Originally published in the Reader Weekly August 28, 2008 … then we might think the presidential candidates’ antics were cute. The major pandering of both candidates was at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, where each submitted to an hour-long set of questions on their faith. Such “holier than thou” interviews may be legal, but they fly in the face of the spirit of the Constitution: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” John McCain wants Congress to get to work on the price of oil, but he wasn’t present on July 30 for renewing the alternative energy credits. He is calling for more drilling, but ignores that it won’t be available for years. Somebody recently commented that drilling for oil now in the U.S. would deplete the amount that is available in the future. If John McCain didn’t vote for renewing alternative energy credits, how does he have the nerve to put wind turbines in his ads? Barack Obama wasn’t present for that same vote either. And he is starting to waffle by proposing short-term, feel-good solutions, like tapping the petroleum reserve. Tapping the petroleum reserve may do a wee bit for the price of gas now. What will the cost be to replenish that oil that was bought at lower prices? John McCain continually questions Obama’s leadership qualities, among them the ability to make the right decision at three a.m. When was the last time McCain answered the phone at three a.m. and was alert enough to make complicated decisions? McCain often manages to contradict his own “message of the day” that his campaign agreed on. If Obama doesn’t have leadership skills, how did he manage to build such a campaign staff? Obama, Al Franken, and other Democrats hammer away on record oil profits. Exxon-Mobil is a $370 billion company. Its profit margin is ten percent and its dividend is 2.10 percent. Where is the “missing” eight percent going? To the top executives or back into investment? Who are the shareholders getting 2.10 percent? Fifty percent are institutions. Who might these institutions include? Maybe the State of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota, and your IRA or 401(k). As of June 2007, the Minnesota State Retirement System had 1.464% of its portfolio in Exxon-Mobil out of a fund of over 11 billion dollars. By the way, along with its record profits, Exxon Mobil paid record taxes, $30 billion in 2007. That’s about what the lower half of individual taxpayers pay. What I want in my president is leadership: leadership is telling people what they need to know, not what they want to hear. The following speech is a sample of what we should hear from our next president. "Our foreign policy is being held hostage to oil producing lands. We are helping to finance authoritarian regimes. We are competing for oil against rapidly growing economies whose populations dwarf ours. We need to break our addiction to oil by utilizing a wide array of alternate energy sources and conservation strategies. Already we are falling behind other countries in both efforts. "For a variety of reasons, Congress has been unable to take large-scale steps away from oil. Therefore, as President I will take several steps by executive order to promote the use of alternative energy and increase conservation. "My first step will be to require all federally purchased passenger vehicles to have an EPA rating of 35 mpg or better, increasing five percent per year. "Second, all federal offices will set their thermostats at 68 degrees in the winter and at 77 degrees in the summer. "Third, all federal offices should purchase green power whenever it is available from a local power company. "Fourth, federal building managers should look at the feasibility of installing solar panels on their roofs. "Fifth, federal land managers should determine where it would be appropriate to install solar collectors or wind turbines, as a minimum for use in facilities with excess going into the grid. "These steps may be small regarding our energy use, but they will set an example for others and increase the market for products that will change our energy profile. Our economy needs it and our national defense needs it." Online addendum: "David Ben-Gurion had always understood that his first constituency was the facts and that his second constituency was his people, whose subjective will had to be shaped to the facts." - From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas L. Friedman (1st Anchor Books edition), p. 271 ©2008 Melvyn D. Magree |