John Boonstra's blog

John McCain today stressed his environmentmental credentials, delivering a major speech on global warming in the traditionally green city of Portland, Oregon (in case anyone missed the point, he chose a wind turbine manufacturer for the site of the speech). How will Senator McCain take on global warming if he is elected? In his own words:

"I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges. I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto. The United States will lead and will lead with a different approach—an approach that speaks to the interests and obligations of every nation," he said.

Environmental organizations and bloggers have applauded McCain's recognition of global warming -- a term that he has accepted, arguing that, even if humans are not causing the worldwide increase in temperature, it can only help to act like we are responsible -- but are more mixed in their reaction to the substance of McCain's policy proposals. Gristmill's David Roberts rates his cap-and-trade program as "roughly in line with what others have proposed," but disapproves of McCain's relative silence on other ways to curb emissions. A Washington Post article this morning describes the "balancing act" that McCain has had to play in appeasing the concerns of both environmentalists and industrialists.

On Day One users do not seem too enamored with McCain's energy and climate plan -- though almost a third of you do not endorse the stance of any of the three remaining candidates. While his policies do not seem as far-reaching as those of the Democratic candidates, perhaps most refreshing is the fact that he, as well as Clinton and Obama, are ready willing to engage the rest of the world in devising a solution to an undeniably global problem.

Following in the (low-carbon) footsteps of its cousin in commercial rail shipping, the passenger train industry is also increasingly touting its environmental benefits, tailoring its marketing to tap into the growing market of consumers for whom "greenness" is a salient product attribute. Though I can only attest to this anecdotally, a train ad that I heard on NPR the other morning was clearly geared specifically toward eco-conscious travelers, lauding the small carbon footprint of trains compared to the increasingly suffering environmental image of planes. Europe, with its extensive passenger rail system, has latched onto this advertising strategy with even greater gusto, it seems. A little more investment from the next president in the United States' relatively limited passenger rail structure could have a big impact in combating global warming -- and bring in a little much-needed green for Amtrak in the process.

Blogger Rob Goodspeed has produced this interesting graph showing what issues each candidate's website focuses on, and how many words it allots to each topic.

Word counts on websites, of course, don't necessarily measure the exact importance of each issue to a candidate. Rob's graph, moreover, counts only the number of words on the "outermost" of each issue page; content of pages linked to from this outer page is not counted. Thus, the fact that Senator Clinton's green bars are shorter in almost every category does not mean that she cares about issues less, only that her website is designed more economically. Many words about an issue do not a strong commitment make. Yet the differences in categories like "Standing in the World," "National Security," and "Technology" are nonetheless striking.

Most importantly, though, we must remember that, as Rob reminds us, "what candidates say about their priorities, and what they actually do in office can be quite different for a variety of reasons."

(Hat tip: Matt Yglesias)

On Day One has acquired three great new ideas, all coming from under one roof. Residents of this celebrated bloggers' household have each taken their turn in suggesting a course of action for the next president to follow on his or her first day in office. Spencer Ackerman, of The Washington Independent and Attackerman, calls for an immediate and unconditional end to the war in Iraq, which he deems the "biggest strategic mistake of our lifetime." Kriston Capps, an art critic who blogs at Grammar Police, makes an interesting proposal to give artists fairer tax breaks for the work they donate to charity. And Matthew Yglesias, of The Atlantic, focuses his attention on recommitting the U.S. to the international framework for nuclear nonproliferation.

Readers of these esteemed bloggers, welcome. Let Spencer, Kriston, and Matt know what you think of their ideas, and, of course, tell us your own.