McCain and Obama Tout Very Different Energy Policies

by Grist
June 10, 2008

While campaigning in different cities Monday, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama managed to trade plenty of jabs on energy policy. At a rally in Raleigh, N.C., Obama called for a tax on oil-company windfall profits and declared, "At a time ... when we're paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, [McCain] wants to spend $1.2 billion on a tax break for ExxonMobil." McCain's economic adviser responded that the GOP candidate supports an "across-the-board corporate rate cut that's necessary to keep the American corporate sector competitive in the global economy." Obama also dismissed the idea of a gas-tax holiday as a gimmick, and continued to tout his vision of a green-job-driven economy, making no mention of nuclear power. McCain, at a fundraiser in Richmond, Va., reiterated his support for the gas-tax holiday; when a donor summarized his energy policy as "nuclear, and drill wherever we've got it," McCain replied, "You just gave my speech."

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