Special interests dominate Obama's State of the Union

Obama's state of the Union reflected his belief in government aggressively steering the economy. In my column, I list who wins under Obama's proposals:

For instance, he called for more funding to build high-speed rail. Why rail? Rail is only one way to travel or to ship things.

A likely clue: lobbying. Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive officer of GE Transportation, said in May, "We are ready to partner with the federal government and Amtrak to make high-speed rail a reality."

Subsequently, GE Transportation hired two new lobbying firms. One new GE lobbyist on high-speed rail: Linda Hall Daschle, the wife of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, an Obama confidant.

Samuel Whitehorn is another new addition to GE's train lobby. He served as senior counsel on the Senate commerce committee and a senior lawyer at Bill Clinton's Department of Transportation.

Are plug-in electric cars the new ethanol?

In 2006, I wrote that large-scale ethanol use--although it was being promoted as a green fuel--would not be good for the planet. By 2009, that was nearly consensus.

Today, plug-in electric cars are the new miracle cure to our energy worries. My Examiner column today looks at some of the problems that could arise from widespread adoption of electric cars:

Back to the lithium: The GAO report warns that “extracting lithium from locations where it is abundant, such as in South America, could pose environmental challenges that would damage the ecosystems in those areas.”

Those more concerned with energy independence than green fuels also have reason to doubt electric cars: About half of the world’s lithium reserves are in Bolivia. A major shift to lithium-powered cars “could substitute reliance on one foreign resource [oil] for another [lithium],” the GAO writes.

Read the whole thing here.

Obama Taps Another Corporate Welfare King in Vilsack

My Examiner column today discusses Obama Agriculture Department pick Tom Vilsack, he and Obama's long affair with ethanol, prospects for ethanol reform, and the general theme of corporate welfare in the growing Obama administration.

Living it up at the conventions--on your dime

ST PAUL, MINN.--My March 5, 2008, Washington Examiner column:

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but this week I have sure been enjoying lots of Summit India Pale Ale, fried walleye and all kinds of tasty nourishment at events surrounding the Republican National Convention, without paying for any of it.

The same was true in Denver last week. Of course, none of this was “free.” My free food and drink — which paled in comparison to wining and dining enjoyed by the politicians and policymakers here — were the wages of a government that has far outgrown the power and influence our founders intended.

The less-savory fruits are high taxes, often oppressive regulations, and a lobbying game that invites graft, corruption and abuse of power. That’s why we see corporate sponsors all over both of these conventions.

Read the whole thing here.