Now the primary race is getting exciting...

There's something incredibly exciting happening in the presidential primary right now (aside from the precedent-breaking candidates vying for the Democratic nomination). For the first time since I've been old enough to vote, the Republican and Democratic candidates are trying to out-do each other on the issue of environmental awareness, most specifically global warming.


Typically environmental protection (real environmental protection, that is, not the James Watt variety) has been the bastion of Democrats, with Republican political candidates largely championing the position of protecting corporations from environmental restriction or legislation. Not that Democrats have necessarily done an outstanding job of protecting this country's natural resources, but for the most part they've been the only environmentally-minded game in town.


John McCain has changed that equation in this year's primary by not only promising to address global warming and climate change if elected president, but also to enact mandatory CO2 reductions. If you read the fine print, of course, McCain's global warming mitigation plan is far weaker than either Hillary Clinton's or Barack Obama's (and far less aggressive than that advocated by the scientific and environmentalist community). But the point is that he has a plan, and that's a huge step forward for this country.

Without giving away my political leanings, I still have far more confidence in the Democratic party's commitment to environmental protection, but it gives me enormous hope to know that if McCain takes over the presidency, the cause won't be entirely abandoned. And to this tree-hugger, that's pretty exciting.