Distorting Obama

Summary
McCain released a Web ad that distorts Obama's positions on clean-energy innovation and nuclear power.

The ad portrays Obama as saying "no" to energy "innovation" and to "the electric car." In fact, Obama proposed a $150 billion program of research into a wide variety of clean-energy technologies last year, long before McCain proposed to award a $300 million prize for developing a commercially viable battery package capable of powering automobiles.

The ad also has Obama saying "no" to "clean, safe nuclear energy." In fact, Obama has said, "I have not ruled out nuclear... but only [would support it] so far as it is clean and safe."

Analysis
Sen. John McCain's campaign announced the new Web-only ad on June 25. It portrays Obama as "The Dr. No of energy security." We find that some of the claims in the ad go too far and misrepresent some of Obama's positions.

No to Innovation?
The most glaringly inaccurate claim in the ad is that Obama opposes "innovation" in general and "the electric car" in particular. The claim is based solely on Obama's dismissal of McCain's proposal to award a $300 million prize for development of a battery package capable of powering plug-in hybrids or electric cars at a fraction of current costs. Obama called McCain's approach a gimmick, but it's not true that he opposes innovation or electric-powered cars.

In fact, Obama was criticizing McCain for not going far enough. He said in a speech in Las Vegas on June 24:

Obama: After all those years in Washington, John McCain still doesn't get it. I commend him for his desire to accelerate the search for a battery that can power the cars of the future. I've been talking about this myself for the last few years. But I don't think a $300 million prize is enough. When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn't put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win – he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people.

And far from saying "no to innovation," Obama has proposed spending $150 billion over 10 years to develop a variety of new energy technologies, specifically including advanced biofuels, "clean coal" technology, and wind and solar technologies. We find no specific reference to electric-car research, but we also find no evidence that Obama is opposed to developing electric cars.

Furthermore, Obama laid out this $150 billion proposal in a speech on Oct. 8, 2007. That is more than eight months before McCain first mentioned his $300 million car-battery prize on June 23. Readers may judge for themselves which candidate is more aggressive about promoting energy innovation.

"No to Nuclear?"
The McCain ad also portrays Obama as saying "no to clean, safe, nuclear energy." That's false. Obama has said he's open to building new nuclear plants if they are clean and safe.