If a picture can speak 1,000 words, then this graphic on BarackObama.com[i] clearly shows where coal fits – or rather, doesn’t fit – in the president’s energy strategy.
The graphic, which has been on the president’s Web site for several weeks, continues Obama’s claim that he has an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. But as you can see by looking at the graphic, coal apparently doesn’t count as “all.” Indeed, a look at the Democratic National Committee’s 2012 platform shows that coal won’t have much of a future if the Democrats are in control of domestic energy policy. Their platform mentions coal exactly once, and it’s in a reference to “clean coal.”[ii] By contrast, the Republicans’ platform mentions coal nine times, and claims the party will “will end the EPA’s war on coal.”[iii]
“Whatever happens in the presidential election won’t matter much to the booming global coal market. Furthermore, it will have almost no effect on soaring global carbon dioxide emissions, which have increased by about 28 percent over the past decade.” Robert Bryce in his recent article at Slate.com The Coal Hard Facts: Environmentalists fervently wish for the end of coal. Here’s why it can’t be replaced anytime soon.
Read a new report by Robert Bryce: Is there Still a Case for Coal?
With less than two weeks to go until election day, energy production has emerged as a key issue in the presidential campaign for both President Obama and Governor Romney. 
