Obama’s latest “evolution”: Coal suddenly reappears in energy plan

On Wednesday, I pointed out that Barack Obama’s so-called “all of the above” energy plan, as explained on his campaign website, had a very large omission. This graphic represented the energy policy on which Obama was campaigning for re-election:

In case the graph on the left isn’t clear enough, here it is by itself:

Oddly, the “all of the above” approach excluded coal, which sources 45% of all electricity produced in the US, sustains more than a half-million jobs, and allows for lower prices to consumers and businesses. After nearly losing in coal-dependent West Virginia’s Democratic primary to a felon currently in federal prison in Texas, suddenly Obama has “evolved” on energy policy, too, as Conn Carroll noticed at the Washington Examiner:

Michael Warren points out that the likely audience here isn’t West Virginia, but Pennsylvania and Ohio:

All topics are still available to read except for “fuel efficiency.” That’s been replaced by “clean coal.” The site touts Obama’s “10-year goal to develop and deploy cost-effective clean coal technology.”

Obama isn’t likely to win West Virginia this year–ever since George W. Bush won the state in 2000, it’s been in Republican hands at the presidential level. But consider that swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio also have coal industries, and the change on Obama’s campaign website makes a bit more political sense.

Well, it only makes political sense if anyone believes that a second Obama term would be less hostile to coal than the first Obama term. Obama promised in January 2008 that his energy policies would bankrupt coal operators and make energy prices “skyrocket.” Treating coal as an afterthought in his campaign’s energy policy website demonstrates exactly how coal would get treated in a second Obama term, and this time voters in Pennsylvania and Ohio have plenty of first-hand experience with Obama’s war on that industry.