Leadership, Politics & Education
Print Article

Environmental Politics: Obama Versus the Republican Presidential Hopefuls

Published on February 18, 2012 | By Richard Matthews

When it comes to the environment, President Obama differs significantly from the current field of Republican presidential hopefuls. For starters, Obama accepts the scientific veracity of climate change where Republicans tend to deny the very existence of anthropogenic global warming.

Obama believes that sustainability should be incorporated into the economy, the GOP does not believe in spending Federal money to support the economy, nor does it believe in a green stimulus.

Obama has been a powerful advocate for cleaner energy, efficiency and the environment. Obama is focused on creating new green jobs, Republicans are not as interested in cleaner energy or efficiency and they want to let private enterprise provide employment. Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline while all the Republican presidential hopefuls supported it.

The GOP candidates support big oil while Obama has repeatedly tried to remove oil subsidies and transition away from oil.

Some think that Mitt Romney is the front-runner, he calls Obama’s green jobs idea a “green jobs myth.” Romney would like to limit the government’s role in renewable energy to little more than basic research. Romney is against the Obama administration’s loan guarantee and tax incentives program for cleantech.

These are but a few of the differences between Republican presidential hopefuls and Obama. The contrast could not be more stark. Predictably, the GOP wants to minimize regulations and restrict government spending. Obama wants to protect the environment (air and water) and invest government money to create a viable economy for a more sustainable future.

Anyone who has even a passing interest in the environment knows that another four years of Obama is infinitely superior to any of the Republican candidates.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
Richard Matthews is a consultant, eco- entrepreneur, green investor and author of numerous articles on sustainable positioning, eco-economics and enviro-politics. He is the owner of THE GREEN MARKET a leading sustainable business blog and one of the Web’s most comprehensive resources on the business of the environment. Find The Green Market on Facebook and follow The Green Market’s twitter feed.

Source: 
The Green Market
Republished with permission


Print Article
  
  

This entry was posted in Leadership, Politics & Education and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.
You might also like

  • President Obama's 2012 budget plan slashes the deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years, but House Republicans want to see at least $60 billion in c ...

  • Finally. The American establishment is talking about the issues the Occupy Wall Street movement attempted to raise since October last year. Th ...

  • In the wake of the US credit downgrade entitlement reform may be the only hope for the green economy. Many believe that the battle against cli ...

  • One year ago this week I wrote that Barack Obama had finally done it. He had taken the tantalizing trail to a notoriously slippery slope. In an op ...