Oliphant: America's Energy Future

from The Boston Globe online:
By Thomas Oliphant
December 23, 2007

IN A RUSH of events - from Indonesia to California to the Bush-Congress wars here to the presidential campaign trail - the country got a serious glimpse of its energy future last week.

The news was mostly good. However much of it was disguised by half-steps and partial setbacks, not to mention a road ahead filled with major obstacles. In a charged, partisan atmosphere, the news (about everything from fuel economy to global warming to state antipollution programs) posed several tough political questions.

For the Democrats, including the three leading presidential candidates deep into their endgame maneuvers in Iowa and New Hampshire, the classic dilemna was posed: Do you want a big issue for the upcoming campaign or will you take a few policy steps forward now and try for the rest later?

The answer, with surprisingly little dissent, was the latter. Congress's embattled leaders showed up with an equally embattled President Bush at a signing ceremony for legislation that breaks a generation-long stalemate over fuel efficiency even as it kowtows to Big Coal and Corporate Electricity. And neither Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, nor John Edwards yielded to the temptation to condemn the judgment of Congress.

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