McCain on Global Warming

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.