GMC Yukon Denali vs. Toyota Prius Hybrid

Waaah Waaah Waaah Detroit. Automobile makers are crying the blues at President Obama’s interest in imposing stricter emission standards on their vehicles. The president recently “ordered the government to reconsider whether California and other states could regulate vehicle emissions to help control greenhouse gas emissions, a reversal of a position taken by the Bush administration.” (At the moment, automakers say only the Toyota Prius hybrid and similar vehicles would meet those standards.)

In true Obama form, he emphasized his willingness to work with the carmakers to meet his administration’s goals: energy independence and stopping global warming.

“Let me be clear: Our goal is not to further burden an already struggling industry,” Obama said at the White House according to MSNBC. “It is to help America’s automakers prepare for the future.”

American automakers claim the emission modifications could potentially put them out of business because they would have to stop producing the larger, gas-guzzlers (read: more profitable vehicles). Although GM and Chrysler just borrowed billions of dollars from the federal government, it appears they were counting on the fat price tags of their less fuel-efficient and not greenhouse gas emission-friendly vehicles like Cadillac Escalade (MSRP mid $60,000’s), GMC Denali (MSRP mid $50,000’s), Hummer truck (MSRP $60,000-70,000’s), and even the Saab 9-5 (MSRP $40,000’s).

“I think this is the pathway to their survival,” David Doniger of the National Resources Defense Council said to the New York Times. “If carmakers are going to survive in a world of volatile oil prices and global warming, they have to be making more efficient vehicles. When the economy comes back and people start buying cars again, they’re going to expect that gas prices are going to go up, and they’re not going to want the gas hogs that they used to want. Consumers’ tastes have changed in terms of what’s cool.”

Hey Detroit, you proved that you could make a hybrid Escalade. Surely, you can get to work on updating the technology for the rest of the cars, which gives options for larger families and is better for the environment. After all, Americans are paying for it—to the tune of $17.4 billion.

In other news…

Former Vice President Al Gore is urging Congress to support legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions. In his recent testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Gore warned the government to not get so blindsided by the economic crisis that they forget to work on international global warming initiatives. In fact, he reminds them that “the economy, terrorism and the Iraq and Afghan wars are linked by a common thread—our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels.” In addition to the greenhouse gas emissions cap, there is another solution that both Obama and Gore agree on: the President’s economic stimulus plan. Obama’s proposal includes investments in clean energy and green jobs that Gore and others think will help the U.S. economy. Green thinking could add up to more green..dollars that is.

Check ou“>t Gore’s recent testimony before Congress on greenhouse gases.

Last night, Sarah Palin had the chance to answer this bedeviling foreign policy and national security question herself. How did she do?

Charlie Gibson: When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?

Sarah Palin: Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States.

Gibson: I know. I’m just saying that national security is a whole lot more than energy.

Palin: It is, but I want you to not lose sight of the fact that energy is a foundation of national security. It’s that important. It’s that significant.

Speak to your strengths, even when they aren’t that strong, and even if they don’t really relate to the question at hand. In other words, evade, evade, evade!

If there’s a lesson in this, however, it’s to let the candidate do the talking, instead of the surrogates. Palin may have dodged Gibson’s question, but her response was succinct and more convincing than either Bounds’s or Sheunemann’s “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” strategy (see below).

From now on, we know what Palin will say to any foreign policy or national security question: “energy independence.”

With the first “impromptu” press appearance out of the way, let’s revisit how McCain spokesmen handled the first two goes the MSM had at Palin’s foreign policy qualifications:

They were quick to defend the previously unknown candidate. In an interview with CNN’s Campbell Brown on Sept. 1, McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds suggested her experience came from commanding the Alaskan National Guard.

Tucker Bounds: I don’t think there should be any problem explaining her experience … she’s been in executive office longer than Barack Obama has been in the U.S. Senate. She’s been the commander of the Alaskan National Guard that’s been deployed overseas, that’s foreign policy experience.

Campbell Brown: Can you just tell me one decision she’s made as commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard, just one?

Bounds: Any decision she has made as the commander of the national guard that is deployed over seas is more of a decision than Barack Obama has been making as he has been running for president for the past two years.

The McCain camp’s initial tactics? Grasp for whatever sounds the best, then evade, evade, evade.

Ted Koppel got another chance to crack the foreign policy nut when interviewing Randy Sheunemann, McCain’s foreign policy and national security director, a week later on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. How did the McCain camp pitch Palin’s foreign policy experience after having seven days to refine its strategy? It dropped the reference to commanding the Alaskan National Guard, and instead just mentioned random military jargon.

Ted Koppel: Maybe you can give us a sense of what [her foreign policy expertise] is.

Randy Sheunemann: Well, certainly, I mean, for starters, she’s been the governor of the only U.S. state that has two international boundaries, a land border with Canada and a maritime border with Russia. Significant military facilities are on this territory, the state of Alaska, from Fort Wainwright, which has a striker brigade that’s about to deploy to Iraq, we have F22’s at Elmendorf Air Force Base, we have the national missile defense site that is being constructed in Alaska. She’s hosted literally dozens of international trade delegations as part of her duties as governor. She’s also traveled overseas to visit Alaskan National Guard troops deployed in the Persian Gulf region.

When Koppel pressed Sheunemann on Palin’s expertise on Russia (“So it would be fair to assume, then, if and when we ever get the opportunity of talking to Governor Palin, that she has considerable expertise on Russia?) the adviser mentioned her other areas of experience instead.

Sheunemann: I think it would be fair to say that Governor Palin has considerable expertise in running a large state. She has more executive experience than Senator Obama and Senator Biden combined. She has passed significant legislation through her leadership, not just co-sponsoring something written by others. She’s passed a budget. She’s enacted an oil pipeline, which has significant international ramifications. She’s worked with Canadian companies and the Canadian government on international energy issues.

Round No. 2 strategy? Draw any possible connection between Palin and the military. Who cares if it’s nonsensical! If you get called on it, change the topic.

In other words: evade the subject at all costs.  I think I can hear Joe Biden chomping at the bit.