Public Questions McCain’s Stand on Oil

By Pamela Mortimer

Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain called for a "clean break" from the Bush administration’s energy policies on Tuesday. McCain quickly switched gears and accused his presidential opponent Barack Obama of supporting failed recycling efforts.

If McCain was making an attempt to stand in the middle of the road, he made an error when he criticized Obama for proposing a windfall profits tax. Last month McCain said he would consider the same proposal. Now the public is wondering what McCain really believes.

As President Bush's poll ratings continue to drop to historically low levels, McCain often attempts to separate himself from the current administration. In an effort to set himself apart from the Republican in power, McCain has released of a new television commercial stressing environmental issues.

"John McCain stood up to the president and sounded the alarm on global warming — five years ago," the ad states. "Today, he has a realistic plan that will curb greenhouse gas emissions. A plan that will help grow our economy and protect our environment."

The ad is scheduled to run in several "battleground states" and on cable television.

Democrats have questioned McCain’s credibility.

"How can we trust John McCain to confront soaring gas prices or break America's dependence on foreign oil when he caved in to Big Oil on drilling and tax breaks ... and he has repeatedly opposed incentives for green jobs and renewable energy?" asked Karen Finney, a spokeswoman at the Democratic National Committee.

In a speech that coincides with the new ad, McCain rehashes key points of his campaign while calling for reform of the current laws that are designed to govern the oil futures trading market. McCain also emphasizes his support for putting an end to the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling. The Senator believes individual states should have the right to decide whether to "explore offshore waters."

The GOP candidate plans to outline more specific measures over the next two weeks. He also plans to reiterate his separation from Bush politics and criticize Obama.

"... In effect, our petrodollars are underwriting tyranny, anti-Semitism, the brutal repression of women in the Middle East, and dictators and criminal syndicates in our own hemisphere," said the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting in his prepared remarks.

"The next president must be willing to break with the energy policies not just of the current Administration, but the administrations that preceded it, and lead a great national campaign to achieve energy security for America," he said.