McCain vs. Obama; Old Guard vs. New Guard

After looking over both Obama and McCain's environmental platforms, I agree with Dave's perspective on the Clapp and Dauvergne's categories. McCain seems to be more of a market liberal; whereas, Obama seems to be more closely linked to the institutionalists. Obama speaks of consuming foreign oil faster than ever before, and that "energy independence" has been an issue with every single president since Nixon! In terms of global warming, Obama speaks of melting glaciers and dangerous weather patterns. "Global warming is now a fact!"

Both McCain and Obama believe that the U.S. relies too much on foreign oil. Yet, like Obama states, McCain voted against energy bills, against solar power, against wind power, etc. McCain speaks of the "failure of Washington to address environmental issues," but Obama brings up the fact that McCain was part of the problem in Washington for 26/30 years of failure.

I don't believe it's easy to always use Clapp and Dauvergne's categories in order to classify each of the candidates. Obviously every idea concerning environmental improvement will not always line up with only one of the groups. Obama seems to be more for stronger institutions (institutionalist), yet he also addresses the importance of saving the environment (bio-environmentalist) through strong institutions AND government regulation.

I thought Obama's environmental platforms were far more direct than McCain's. It was easier for me to understand after a couple of minutes of reading or listening to one of Obama's environmental speech, that he was for or against certain environmental policies or changes. In terms of McCain's platform, although I could tell that he was for an increase in things such as alternative fuels and new technologies, it seemed that Obama was more up front about the fact that the environmental is in tough shape. As a result, I was far more impressed by Obama's environmental platforms than McCain's. Obviously I am bias toward Obama, since when it comes down to it, I still think McCain represents an old guard as well as representing the "Washington" that has not effectively addressed the environment in the past! Obama is right, no matter who is at fault, something has got to change. If McCain did not do much about the environment in the past, then what makes people think that he will once he is president?