U.S. Presidential candidates' staffs briefed on peak oil

[phantom power]

Worth reading the entire article, for campaign reactions to this information:

Just to cover my bases, in case politics and laying groundwork can do wonders, I have just spent a week in Washington, D.C. talking with staffers of Senators Obama, McCain and Clinton. Their understanding of peak oil is rising at a critical time, perhaps in time for the election, but certainly afterwards for Presidential or Senatorial initiatives.

The related issue of plastics and their threat to the oceans and public health was something I was able to link to peak oil with all of them -- without eyes glazing over, nor popping out. Ideally, our catching up to China and its ban on plastic bags could become a policy option or lively point of debate.

http://www.energybulletin.net/40601.html

[Extend a Hand]

1. I sure hope they listened carefully!

[phantom power]

3. One thing from this article stuck out for me.

And that thing is: a politician's staff and advisors have a great deal of influence over what that politician is actually aware of. We all deride Bush for living in his bubble (and rightly so), but the fact is that all politicians exist in a kind of bubble. I can't even work up much outrage over it, because really, how else can they conduct business?

So, this guy presents some information to the advisors of Clinton, Obama and McCain. You have to wonder what (if anything) each of the candidates actually sees of this information. By the time it's filtered through a bunch of advisors, and run through the "political calculus" meat grinder, etc.

It all reminds me of a story my father told me, about a time he went to D.C., on some mission or other as a country legislator. He sat in a hallway, watching Senator X, on his way to a senate vote, and all the way, Senator X's advisor was walking by his side, whispering in his ear. Most likely explaining to Senator X how he was going to vote.

Politicians are now more or less colony organisms, comprised of a politician and a group of satellite organisms called "staff."

[L0oniX]

2. Someone should be concerned that our children will not have gas when they are middle aged.

[AlertLurker]

4. I never cease to wonder at the stupidity of governments.

Why did they not brief people on this FIVE YEARS AGO, when the rest of us were learning all about it...you know, when it could have done a little more good?

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. It's not as if they were completely ignorant on the matter

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2007/7/19/are-democrats-the-peak-oil-party.html

Are Democrats the Peak-Oil Party?

July 19, 2007 03:10 PM ET | James Pethokoukis

"We have to understand how weak (Iran) is," explained Sen. Joe Biden last month at the Democratic presidential debate in Nashua, N.H. "They import almost all of their refined oil. By 2014, they are going to be importing their crude oil." If Biden really meant to say what he said, that places him firmly in the camp of those analysts who believe in "peak oil" and predict that global oil production will soon decline even as demand continues to rise, with the results being ever higher oil prices and shortages.

...