Energy is the topic of the week so far on the presidential campaign trail. After touring a label factory in Lafayette Hill, PA, McCain said that we must drill here, drill now, and criticized Barack Obama for not being straight with the American people.

“We are going to solve the energy crisis that is effecting businesses like National Label Company, and we need an all of the above approach. We need to aggressively develop alternative energies like wind, solar, tide, bio-fuels, and geothermal. We also need to expand our use of existing resources here at home. That means we need more nuclear power. It means we need more clean coal technology, and that means we need to offshore drill for oil and natural gas. We need to drill here and we need to drill now, and anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn’t have the experience to understand the challenge we face or isn’t giving the American people some straight talk,” McCain said.

Next were the distortions about Obama stance on energy, “Unfortunately, Senator Obama continues to oppose offshore drilling. He continues to oppose the use of nuclear power. These misguided polices would result in higher energy costs to American families and business, and increase our dependence on foreign oil. We are not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires.”

This is what Obama said today about offshore drilling, “Like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks. It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don’t believe that’s a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it’s necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan. I am not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good – particularly since there is so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

Secondly, if anybody with the McCain campaign would have watched the news, they would have heard Obama say this about nuclear power and clean coal, “In addition, we’ll find safer ways to use nuclear power and store nuclear waste. And we’ll invest in the technology that will allow us to use more coal, America’s most abundant energy source, with the goal of creating five “first-of-a-kind” coal-fired demonstration plants with carbon capture and sequestration.” This doesn’t sound like opposition to offshore drilling, nuclear power, and clean coal to me.

McCain talked about alternative energy, but then he later made a disparaging remark about inflating our tires. This comment provided a great deal of insight into where McCain really stands. Obama offered an energy plan that is willing to invest money for our future, while John McCain is willing spend tax payer money on tax breaks for the wealthy oil companies. McCain claims to have the experience, but what if it is the wrong kind of experience for the future? Americans face a choice between an energy policy that will continue to benefit the few, and a policy that will reshape America’s energy future.