post 2

my first reaction to reading the environmental platforms of the two candidates was that the platform of the democrat, Barack Obama, was much longer and more detailed than that of the republican, Mitt Romney. Obama seems to represent a bio-environmentalist, advocating reduced emissions, oil independence and other environmental based incentives. He stresses replanting trees and restoring grasslands as a way towards saving the environment. Romney on the other hand seems more like an institutionalist. His incentives are driven my helping the economy and the people. "Energy independence is crucial to our economy and our national security". he focuses on improving technology through nuclear power as a way to save the environment.
Having learned of these categories, it was much easier for me to distinguish the candidates platforms. It allowed me to associating each candidate with a general group with which his ideas were consistent with, further enabling me to infer other environmental beliefs of the candidate.
I would say that Obama is easily making more sense of the environment, as he has much more to say about it. he addresses not only issues of improving what we have, but on restoring what we've destroyed. He talks about emissions, clean energy, biofuels, oil independence, global standards and leadership within the government, while Romney only touches on the economy, nuclear power and technology. He fails to go into any depth regarding his proposed solutions as well. Obama, on the other hand, lays out not only what he sees as the clear and present danger, but he also sets out a clear plan of action to solve the environmental issues we face.