During the humid first days of summer, Americans watched helplessly as Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton proposed failed gas-tax holidays, climbing gas prices caused questions about the presidential candidates’ positions, Clinton’s exhaustingly tenacious campaign came to a hesitant halt, and McCain and Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama began battling the energy-crisis war.

Even Paris Hilton, provoked by McCain’s advertisement that aligned Obama, Columbia University and Harvard Law graduate and constitutional law professor, with the celebrity heiress, has an energy plan. Despite McCain’s earlier stance opposing offshore drilling, he adopted a “drill now” attitude and slammed Obama for not actively pursuing offshore drilling. McCain’s donations from oil companies could also change his previous opposition of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (commonly known as ANWR) of Alaska.
I commend McCain for suggesting a new energy policy, aptly named the Lexington Project, a not-so-subtle nod to the opening battle of the American Revolution. The Lexington Project involves a combination of solutions to deter the crisis, including extensive offshore drilling, improving natural gas and nuclear power, encouraging the purchase of energy-efficient vehicles, and investing in alternative energy research and development. McCain has grouped together every possible energy solution into one plan without specific direction, slapping on a brand name of pseudo-patriotic war allusion. Obama knows the ultimate solution for the crisis is not located in the federal oil reserve barrels, off our Southern coasts or in ANWR. Though drilling offshore might temporarily lower gas prices, McCain’s plans are not the long-term solution, just as McCain is not the solution for our country.

Obama desires to turn away from the lackluster policies of the Bush administration and lead the nation while encouraging citizens to take action. Obama continues to be the only major party candidate not receiving money from oil company lobbyists. His mission is not to provide more income for booming oil executives (Exxon Mobil earned over $400 billion last year) but instead to boost the economy by developing a greener culture. Obama is willing to allow limited offshore drilling if necessary as long as the promotion of alternative energy continues. Obama understands that the United States must eliminate our dependency on foreign oil and plans to create five million “green-collar jobs” in pursuit of sustaining renewable energy sources. Obama’s plan consists of future checkpoints (2012, 2025, 2050), whereas McCain, entering the blustery winter of his life at 71, won’t live to see the negative effects of his haphazard plan.

Until Americans realize the importance of conservation, “going green” will be just a fad for hip college kids and organic food market shoppers. The United States, the intelligence that built the assembly line, invented the telephone and flew men to the moon, should be pioneering green technology; instead we’ve lazily fallen behind in the race for green. Grocery stores in the UK already charge customers for plastic bags, and Canada recently installed a tax that forces consumers to pay for their own carbon footprints. While America prepares for the future, McCain is still stuck at Lexington. With his powerful grass-roots campaign and ability to rally people together, Senator Barack Obama has the steady motivation to promote monumental change in this country.