Recent Politics: Obama and McCain - Weighing the Options

McCain has had a number of really interesting ideas lately. At least they are not the standard tired Republican BS that you hear spouted from the likes of Hannity and his dippy followers. Here are the ones I'm referring to:

Town Hall meetings with Obama - This is a great idea! It gets us away from the silly and uninformative debates where each candidate is supposed to boil down a solution to a complex problem into a 30 second sound-bite. Not only they get to deal with the public directly (which will probably lead to its own silliness though), but the newish format would suggest that both campaigns are really interested promoting a different type of politics. Unfortunately it looks like Obama won't take him up on it :( Here is a snipit from a recent Time article:
After expressing interest in the idea initially, Obama has since backed away, saying he will meet McCain for only one joint town hall, on July 4, when few Americans will be huddled around a television set to watch politics. McCain rejected the counteroffer as insufficient. The negotiations have since broken down, and the two sides are trading blame. "We made a serious counterproposal," Obama spokesman Bill Burton says. "They are content to snipe from the sidelines."
More investment in nuclear energy - Although nuclear energy may not be an ideal solution, I think it is the best idea anyone's got right now. Obama doesn't totally reject this idea either (good for him):
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Friday nuclear power was "not a panacea" for U.S. energy woes but it is worth investigating its further development.
$300M prize for new auto battery - Again, another interesting idea! Although it has a government incentive, it is nonetheless a market based solution (which I like). That said, I agree with comment on the Digg forum that "it should involve putting the patent in public domain. if you are going to give tax payer dollars, everyone should be able to use this knowledge".

Overall, McCain seems to be offering more creative and thought-provoking proposals about energy independence than Obama. In fact, I haven't really heard anything interesting from Obama in this regard. Am I missing it, or has he really not presented a vision of energy independence (and I'm asking this as an Obama supporter)?




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