Obama on Energy Independence and Diplomacy April 23, 2008

New Perspectives Quarterly this quarter ran an interview with Barack Obama on topics such as energy independence, the Iraq War, and foreign relations. NPQ (and the Huffington Post)’s Beverly Davis conducted the interview which gives even more of a clear-cut view as to what the Obama administration would look like.

Regarding energy conservation and independence, Obama would like to see a “national low carbon fuel standard”, encourage “clean energy blends” for American automobiles, and establish a fuel economy standard of “just 40 miles per gallon” — all in order “to reduce…oil dependency.” While it could be argued that this alone could provide an economic stimulus for Americans who are slated to pay up to $5 a gallon for gas in some areas, this shows Barack Obama has made carbon footprints a priority, in line with the growing, green-ing opinion of much of the nation he was accused of being “out of touch” with.

Obama also called into question many of the executive orders which made Bush infamous. Among them are the virtual elimination of habeas corpus, which Bush attempted in both of his terms, giving the government the power to arrest citizens and try them as military combatants, and that “civilian courts cannot intervene to inquire into the legality of such arrests”. I had been wary of the fact that, for all the Democratic party speaks about, there has been very little talk about the future of these orders. Obama says on the topic:

A lot of the encroachments on civil liberties have been done not by legislation but through executive order, so one of the things I want to do is first of all have an attorney general that believes in protecting constitutional rights and the separation of powers and have him or her and the Justice Department engage in a thorough evaluation of our executive orders.

Restoring habeas corpus, closing Guantanamo, strengthening the role of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court in reviewing wiretap requests — those are all areas where we can more rapidly roll back some of the more damaging aspects of President Bush’s approach.

Obama re-asserted that America must speak to its enemies and friends alike in the Middle East to achieve lasting stability in the region, and that he was disappointed with recent journalistic crackdowns in Russia.

Read the entire interview here.

In the urgency of now, America needs Barack Obama.