In Response to Economic Pressures, Obama and McCain Revise Comments

The economic situation has become the first concern of voters. Barack Obama and John McCain review some of their commitments.

The wind of recession which blows across the United States favors Barack Obama. With the slow-down in growth, the take-off of the price of gas, and the fall in real estate values, American confidence has fallen to its lowest point in sixteen years. Even above the war in Iraq, the economic situation has become the primary concern of voters. For the moment, the Democratic candidate is profiting from this general unhappiness, to surpass his rival, John McCain, in the national polls.

Three out of five voters judge that the Illinois senator is better situated than the Republican candidate for setting the economy back on its feet. More than half of voters estimate that McCain would drive the same political economy as that of President Bush. As the popularity of this past President has fallen to 23%, if the Arizona senator wants to win in November, he must absolutely change perceptions of himself. In matters of tax, like the question of reform of the healthcare insurance system, Americans are for the more appealing solutions proposed by Obama.

After months of campaigning for the primaries, in which both sides were marked by populist slogans and caricatures, John McCain and Barack Obama finally get down to the nitty-gritty. The time has come for the candidates to make their positions clear and erase blatant contradictions. Thus, all of a sudden, Barack Obama is less virulent about the need to “renegotiate” the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The senator from Illinois only speaks of an “open-dialogue” with Canada and Mexico “in order to find a means of doing some sort of free exchange which contributes to the wellbeing of everyone.”

The Oil Shock

We are far from the inflamed declarations of February when the Democratic candidate accused his rival, Hillary Clinton, of having some time in the administration of her husband and putting business interests before those of blue-collar workers through the adoption of NAFTA by a Democratic Congress which was negotiated by President Bush Senior.

John McCain is also compelled to correct the action. The Arizona senator has been campaigning for months to keep in place the twenty-seven year old ban on drilling oil off American coasts. This position distinguishes him from President Bush. It has pleased environmentalists. In recent days, John McCain has been obligated to explain why he changed his position. The fact that polls suddenly reveal the popularity of such drilling surely means something. However, the Republican candidate remains opposed to oil exploration in the Arctic reserve in Alaska, where the chances of discovering important resources are high.

The Case of Ethanol

The oil shock facing America forces the two White House contenders to resell their positions on matters of energy policy. On this plan, environmentalists, tempted to follow Barack Obama, are troubled by the strong support of the Senator for multiple subsidies that benefit the ethanol industry. This fuel distilled from corn, abundant in Illinois, the state that Obama represents in the Senate, is much less “green” than one would like to say. The growing of corn requires, for example, lots of water, which exhausts the groundwater of certain regions. The growth, the harvest, and the distribution of ethanol are made possible only through the aid of polluting vehicles, which are huge consumers of hydrocarbons. The consumption of artificial ethanol set by Congress as an additive for gasoline, boosts the price of corn and has reduced the land available for other farming.

If there is a case that John McCain has dared to start backing an agricultural lobby in the Midwest, it involves ethanol. The Republican candidate has always denounced such schemes in favor of the the principle of “free markets”. Nevertheless, the liberalism that he professes for the forces of that market, and their determination of the best alternatives to oil has its limits. McCain is in effect, favorable to the supporters of the nuclear industry, a matter on which Obama is less forthcoming. These are many of the contradictions that will enliven the debate in November.