×

Hillary Clinton could make Obama look like moderate

Hillary Clinton has made it crystal clear that if West Virginians and Ohioans think President Barack Obama has been bad for them, they haven’t seen anything yet.

Clinton told cheering supporters in New York City last weekend that she plans, in effect, to expand Obama’s war on coal and affordable electricty to cover natural gas and oil.

If elected president next year, she will pursue policies to “enable America to lead the global fight against climate change,” Clinton pledged. She wants to make this country “a clean energy superpower.”

To fund more “renewable” energy such as wind and solar power, Clinton wants “additional fees and royalties from fossil fuel extraction,” she explained.

Her campaign has not yet revealed precisely what fees and royalties she would charge producers of gas, petroleum and, of course, coal. Clearly, they would have to be substantial, however, in view of her plans for spending the money.

Because expanding government subsidies for wind and solar power, already billions of dollars, is not all Clinton has in mind.

Money from the new taxes also would be used “to ease the transition for distressed communities to a more diverse and sustainable future from coal country to Indian country, from small towns in the Mississippi Delta to the Rio Grande Valley to our inner cities,” Clinton explained.

Read what she said carefully. Clinton has in mind a massive transfer of income from those of us in energy states – and from consumers who use everything from gasoline to gas for heating to gasoline for vehicles. It would go for new social programs in inner cities and elsewhere.

Obama wants to make it impossible to burn coal to generate reasonably priced electricity. Clinton wants big new taxes on whatever coal production is left.

But she also wants big new taxes on the natural gas tens of millions of Americans have been assured could replace coal at power plants.

Obama has been able to pursue the war on coal by persuading Americans it is detrimental to only a few miners in states like ours. Tens of millions of families who will pay higher electric bills when coal-fired power is history have been deceived.

Obama has been very succcessful in that deception – and Clinton clearly thinks she can continue it. She is counting on millions of urban voters to support her in the expectation they will benefit from new taxes on coal from Appalachia and Wyoming, gas from West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Dakota, and petroleum from Texas, Alaska and Louisiana – along with other states that benefit from fossil fuel production.

So yes, indeed, a Hillary Clinton presidency could accomplish something astounding: It could make many Americans view Obama as a moderate.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today