Elected officials gush over Obama’s energy plan

Presidential candidate Barack Obama unveils energy plan in Lansing, Mich. (Photo: Todd A. Heywood)

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presumptive nominee for president, addresses a crowd in Lansing where he unveiled his new energy plan.

LANSING — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., spent Monday morning in the Lansing Center unveiling his “new” energy plan. To be fair, he unveiled a new spin on the same plan he has had all along, but what local officials heard from the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was music to the tune of “Money, Money, Money.”

“I thought it was excellent,” said Michigan’s junior senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing. “This is exactly what we need in Michigan — a focus on retooling the auto industry and manufacturing for advanced manufacturing, new vehicles, battery technology, research. It’s all things we are actually working on.”

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, was also full of praise for Obama’s new plan, but he said Democrats have been trying to get new energy technology bills through the Senate, only to be met with filibusters by Republicans.

“Energy is certainly a priority, but you know we’ve been filibustered now, we Democrats, about 80 times,” Levin said in an interview with Michigan Messenger. “We had an energy bill where we simply wanted to renew the existing energy credits on solar and wind, just the existing credits which run out in December would be renewed. That’s been filibustered by the Republicans. So unless we can break some of these filibusters, we’re going to have great difficulty in the three weeks we have in session in September to get anything done. The key is, will the Republicans let us get a vote on some of these key issues? We need to get as close to 60 votes as we can after the November elections to break the logjam.”

Federal politicians were not the only ones handing out glowing reviews for the speech and the plan.

State Representative Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, said she thought the plan was good. “I am very impressed with the message. And I feel it has some substance. It gives us hope that there is an agenda in a way that we can deal with our dependence on foreign oil, and it’s an energy plan that makes sense to me.”

“I was very impressed with the speech,” said state Representative Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing. “I like the emphasis on taking care of the environment, putting people back to work and changing the way we have done business in the past. I think Michigan is really the biggest recipient of it. We’ve really thought for a while we were sort of falling behind the curve in terms of alternative energy. And when the governor proposed 10 percent (of all energy to be produced by alternative fuel sources like solar or wind power) — which he (Obama)  recited as well as being a great target for us to hit — we thought we were losing jobs and money into Michigan by taking advantage of building these wind turbines and factories that are now empty that have the facilities to actually be manufacturing again. And I think when we look at it that way and sort of force the energy companies into looking at alternative ways of producing power — because we all want our power, let’s face it — then we can turn that into a job producer. Obviously the old way is not creating jobs for us.”

While the Lansing Center was packed with over 1,000 supporters of Obama’s campaign for president, there was at least one lone Republican lawmaker from the Capitol in the audience. State Rep. Lawrence Wenke, R-Kalamazoo, wandered down to the event to see the candidate for himself.

“I wanted an opportunity to hear his whole speech and hear him talk for a half-hour or so and just see what he is like,” said Wenke. “I really like Sen. Obama’s response to criticism. He is setting a new high standard when it comes to the normal venomous partisan political criticism that candidates toss back and forth at each other. He’s responding, I think,  in a very good way. In a very statesmanlike way. And that’s one of the things that brought me up here today.”

Despite his glowing admiration for Obama, Wenke said he is supporting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,, who is the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party. And unlike Obama, Wenke said he would support drilling in the Great Lakes, but only “slant drilling.”

“I thought it was a phenomenal speech,” said Lansing Mayor Virgil Bernero. The post of mayor in Lansing is a nonpartisan position, but Bernero served as both a Democratic state representative and a state senator before winning the seat. “Imagine having a president who can talk about this who knows, who is at the cutting edge of the green revolution. Who is committed to it. Instead of the oil industry. … This shows you the difference. Eight years of oil people running the place, and now a guy who believes in a brighter future in alternative energy and really making it work for the environment and the economy all in one. This is a wonderful thing for Lansing, for Michigan, for this country. … I am very excited about it and excited he chose Lansing to unveil it.”

Michigan Messenger fellow Ed Brayton contributed to this report.

Todd A. Heywood is the Capitol correspondent for Between the Lines newspaper, as well as a fellow for the Center for Independent Media.