John McCain is considered to be a Republican with a strong environmental record. Both Democrats are, as well. This, as The Nation points out, creates the potential that we could have a useful conversation on the topic.
An easy place to start would be with the California emissions plan, which requires a waiver from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The Bush-run agency has refused to issue the waiver. What would the candidates do? Would McCain, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton tell the EPA to grant California its exemption — and by extension, grant similar extensions to the dozen or so other states waiting to find out the fate of the California plan? (Obama and Clinton both told the California League of Conservation Voters they support California; McCain did not answer the group’s survey, but he did endorse the California plan during the GOP California debate — though it was on federalist grounds that allowed him also to endorse Louisiana’s right to drill off its coast.)
The answer to this question would go a long way toward understanding which of these candidates would actually move the country forward on the issue. McCain, for intance, has a lifetime score of 26 percent from the League of Conservation Voters, with a 2005 score of 43 percent and a 2006 score of 29 percent. Obama’s lifetime score is 96 percent (95 percent in 2005 and 100 percent in 2006) and Clinton’s is 90 percent (95 percent and 71 percent).
Depending on how the political press plays this, McCain’s reputation as an environmental-friendly candidate could neutralize the environment as an issue in November. Reputation, however, is meaningless. What has he actually done and what does he actually say? And what the records of the other remaining candidates? How do they compare?
This raises a larger question of narrative and the roles in which the press cast candidates. It is not the meddia’s responsibility to pigeonhole those running, but to explode the myths the candidates use to sell themselves, to force them to do more than use vague words like “maverick,” “change” and “experience.”
John McCain may indeed be a maverick, but within what context? And does that make him an environmentalist? I’m hoping we’ll get some answers between now and November and, assuming we do, I think it will become eminently clear which of these candidates is greenest.
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Hank Kalet 