Thomas Friedman write a darn good column in the NYTimes today talking about how President Bush should lead the way on energy independence in his State of the Union address next week. Becuase I am rather sure that President Bush is not going to deal with this issue, I believe that Democrats should capitalize on this issue and make it a core element of their platform seeing as it relates to almost all other issue especially the economy, environment, and most importantly national security. Below are some excerpts and here is a link:
State of the Union - NYT - Thomas L. Friedman

I come to you this evening with a similar challenge. President Kennedy was worried about the threat that communism posed to our way of life. I am here to tell you that if we don't move away from our dependence on oil and shift to renewable fuels, it will change our way of life for the worse — and soon — much, much more than communism ever could have. Making this transition is the calling of our era.

Why? First, we are in a war with a violent strain of Middle East Islam that is indirectly financed by our consumption of oil. Second, with millions of Indians and Chinese buying cars and homes as they join the great global middle class, we must quickly move away from burning fossil fuels or we're going to create enough global warming to melt the North Pole. Because of that, green cars, homes, offices, appliances, designs and renewable energies will be the biggest growth industry of the 21st century. If we don't dominate that industry, China, India, Japan or Europe surely will.

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Transportation accounts for most of our oil consumption. And many Americans have purchased big cars and S.U.V.'s, expecting gasoline to remain cheap. That is no longer the case. Therefore, I propose creating a government agency that will buy up any gas-guzzling car or truck in America at the original new or used price, and crush it. This national buy-back program will be financed by a $2-a-gallon gasoline tax that will be phased in by 10 cents a month beginning in 2008 — so people know what is coming and start buying fuel-efficient cars right now.

By removing so many gas guzzlers, we will quickly reduce our oil consumption and create a huge demand for new energy-efficient cars from Detroit, which will rescue our auto industry. We have to do something drastic. The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company is worth more today than General Motors! But by sharply raising the gasoline tax, we'll also make sure that Detroit shifts its fleet to energy-saving plug-in hybrids and hydrogen- and ethanol-burning vehicles, which will force Detroit to out-innovate Toyota. And by generating so much income from a gasoline tax, we will be able to give gas-tax rebates to lower-income folks and have plenty left over to pay for new investment in education and scientific research.

and this:

One last thing: I have accepted the resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney, who felt he could not be a salesman for the Energy Freedom Act. I am nominating Jeffrey Immelt — the C.E.O. of General Electric, who has focused G.E.'s innovation around "eco-imagination" — as Mr. Cheney's replacement.

I am so far Officially undecided in the race for governor. I am from New York and I don't know too much about both candidates Deval Patrick and Tom Reilly and I wanted to see what they were all about. So tonight I ran downtown to see what Reilly was all about. Going in, what I know about Tom Reilly is that he is Attorney General and has been around a long time. Deval has seemed to be the younger and more exciting candidate so far in this race. However, I went in with an open mind.

Myself and a few other E-Board members were just hanging out at the headquarters waiting for the festivities to start and were approached my a blue shirted campaign worker. She rattled off some talking points about how Tom Reilly is an "experience leader" and how he is going to do good things for Massachusetts. Her basically just repeated the following three things:

1. Health Care for Massachusetts
2. Education
3. and something about Protecting our Families

I really have never heard anything so original in my entire life. Ok. Well every candidate basically has to say that and I was sure as heck hoping that the candidate would give me something to clap for.

Mayor Menino sputtered through introducing the candidate and Mr. Reilly spoke. I was really hoping that he would give me something to chew on but sadly there really just wasnt much there. So little that I can't really think of anything that excited me enough to write here. He basically just repeated the talking points that were so eloquently presented to me by the campaign worker. These are all the types of things that every candidate has to say. I mean yeah -- everyone wants healthcare for all (check). I am pretty sure everyone is for better education (check that too) and I think most people at least believe in the idea of wonderful loving protected families. But there are all things that have to be said. Outside of things I head that I have to get involved and that we are somehow outsiders on the inside or something that didn't make sense. I really was not moved.

Below are just a few quotes from an AP story from the campaign kickoff in Spingfield earlier in the day:

"I'm going to be a different kind of governor than we've seen lately," the Democrat told a group of about 250 supporters who gathered in a gymnasium at Springfield's American International College, his alma mater.

Reilly said Gov. Mitt Romney and Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, a Republican candidate for governor, were out of touch with the people of Massachusetts.

"They think Massachusetts is back," Reilly said. "They are both so hopelessly out of touch with the lives of ordinary people, they actually believe everything's fine."

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"We're going to listen to the people of this state and not tell them what to think," Reilly said in his speech. "We're going to be open to new ideas and different points of view. We're going to show families squeezed from every direction that we will be careful, very careful, with their tax dollars."

For the full story look here: Reilly makes campaign bus trip to Springfield

What I really came out of this event feeling was that Tom Reilly basically lost my vote. He said nothing at all compelling, he just said what he had to say. I want a little bit more than that and to be quite honest -- I think that the Republicans give more even in the form of bad ideas but at least they are giving people something. This whole Democratic -- "oh lets bash republicans and really say nothing special" is not going to work and it has not been working. This is the same problem that John Kerry had. This is the problem that a lot of Democrats have around this country and so long as our good leaders dont have anything good to say, I think we are in trouble. So let's get the ideas rolling and shake the boat a little.

Deval Patrick's slogan is "no ordinary leader" and well he seems to have something a little different to say -- his website actually has plans which can be read HERE. At least he has ideas. I am not saying I am for him but we need more people that are willing to come up with ideas -- say something -- and run a real and exciting campaign people can actually stand for.