Obama: Feds May Need To Rethink Ethanol

All Candidates Suggest Biofuel Production And Policies Need Retooling As Food Prices Rise

(AP)  Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the federal government might need to rethink its support for corn ethanol because of rising food prices, a stance similar to Republican John McCain's but at odds with farm states considered important to the November election.

"What I've said is my top priority is making sure people are able to get enough to eat. If it turns out we need to make changes in our ethanol policy to help people get something to eat, that has got to be the step we take," said Obama, D-Ill., on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"We have rising food prices around the United States. In other countries, we're seeing riots because of the lack of food supply, so this is something we're going to have to deal with," he said.

Last week, a group of Republican senators including McCain, R-Ariz., asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen congressional mandates to blend more ethanol and other renewable fuels into the gasoline supply, saying they are adding significantly to food costs. The mandates are backed by President Bush and senators representing farm states.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaking on ABC's "This Week," agreed the issue needs closer review.

"What we need to do is accelerate the research into farm waste and into other cellulosic plant materials. Because, I think, instead of using the corn, let's figure out if we can use the corn cob," she said. "Let's figure out if we can use the corn stalk. Let's figure out what other kind of food, you know, waste we can use."

Clinton added: "In the short run, we've got to work with our farmers and with like-minded people around the world to figure out how this increasing use in biofuels, which is part of our answer to our dependence on foreign oil, does not undermine food production and really accelerate the prices."

Some top international food scientists last month recommended halting the use of food-based biofuels, such as ethanol, saying it would cut corn prices by 20 percent during a world food crisis.

Corn production in Wisconsin is already expected to dip slightly from last year. Wisconsin farmers said they plan to plant 3.65 million acres of corn this year, down 10 percent from 2007 but the same amount planted in 2006.

Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, has said the ethanol industry is exploring many other possible ethanol feedstocks, including wood chips, switchgrass, citrus waste and garbage.

[dixiecharms]

This guy wants to be our President and control our government. Pay close attention to the last comment!! Below are a few lines from Obama''s books '' his words:From Dreams of My Father: ''I ceased to advertise my mother''s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.''From Dreams of My Father: ''I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother%u2019s race.''From Dreams of My Father: ''There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.''From Dreams of My Father: ; ''It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.''From Dreams of My Father: ''I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn''t speak to my own. It was into my father''s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I''d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela.''From Audacity of Hope: ''I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.''

[jonsid2]

According to the experts, ethanol is causing only a 4% rise in food prices. The real culprit is the cost of bringing the food to market - oil! I wouldn''t be surprised if the oil companies are spreading the propaganda about ethanol. Chavez did it to Cuba - he told Castro that if he re-energized sugar production to increase ethanol output, he won''t be getting anymore cheap oil from Venezuela.

[jw218389]

Didn''t Obama learn anything from our far dumber current President???

You say stuff like this AFTER you are elected (or selected in Bush''s case)!!

Pretty stupid thing to say right before a "corn belt" primary.

I thought Obama was smarter than that....

[samthetvcat]

---"Didn''t Obama learn anything from our far dumber current President???

You say stuff like this AFTER you are elected (or selected in Bush''''s case)!!

Pretty stupid thing to say right before a "corn belt" primary.

I thought Obama was smarter than that...."---

Posted by jw218389

Advanced strategy - it forces Hillary''s hand whereby she has to either denounce his stance and be trashed once again by world economists the way she was with the gax tax holiday, or else grudgingly agree.

She agreed . . . Barack ends up looking honest with the American people about a tough call while Hillary looks like she was trying to hide something . . .

[lefeaoux]

Hmmm ... THIS is what the Feds have been saying all along but all the Greenpeace, tree-hugging FREAKS wouldn''t listen to them!

[trillion1]

Corn ethenol is a boondoggle that uses more energy to make than it replaces.

[johnshaft4]

The Feds need to be drinking the ethanol to get their ''minds'' right...

[jt_lancer]

Ethanol subsidies - accelerating starvation worldwide so that politicians can score environmental street cred.

[popstom1]

superdelegates and the people of Id. HE SAID WHAT

[pesojoe]

Obama said nothing just as always. He gets away with talking about the clear problem that everyone knows but he never has a solution. He complains about everything being bad but he has nothing to offer but criticism. Stop the hot air and say something that might help voters, get a plan. Once you get used to Obamas speeches you see they are empty with no solutions. A great orator of fairytales for the childish to be amused by

[barbara08-2009]

CHARLES GIBSON (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) And as Hillary Clinton crisscrosses Indiana, ahead of next Tuesday''s primary, one economic story about lost jobs and foreign competition has become a staple of her campaign stops. But it turns out to be a story with some holes in it. Our senior political correspondent, Jake Tapper, has been looking at that story. Jake?
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Good evening, Charlie. Well, in Indiana, Senator Clinton decries how the company Magnequench moved from Indiana to China in 2003. Magnequench makes high tech magnets with defense applications, including in smart bombs. And now, China has a monopoly on the technology. But there''s one key part of the story Senator Clinton tends to leave out, her husband''s role.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) This rusty, abandoned factory in the heart of Valparaiso, Indiana, housed magnet maker Magnequench until it moved to China, costing more than 200 jobs. It''s a story Senator Hillary Clinton tells a lot as she campaigns throughout the Hoosier State.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT) A Chinese company bought Magnequench. And then, they decided that they were going to move the whole company from Indiana to China.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) Over and over again, Clinton blames President Bush for dropping the ball on a national security issue. Including in a new TV ad.

[barbara08-2009]

SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT) George Bush could have stopped it. But he doesn''t.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) What Clinton does not say is that her husband could have stopped it because the Chinese bought Magnequench, in 1995, when he was president. And his administration approved the deal, despite national security concerns, raised partly because the Chinese companies were run by sons-in-law of the then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
PROFESSOR VIRGINIA SHINGLETON (DEPT OF ECONOMICS) If we believe this was truly a national defense issue, it should not - the company should not have been allowed to be sold in 1995.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) One of Senator Clinton''s main arguments, the Chinese now know our secrets.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT) Not only did the jobs go to China, but so did the intellectual property and the technological know-how to make those magnets.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) Former Magnequench vice president, Andrew Albers, says that''s false. By the 2003 move, he says the Chinese already knew everything.

[barbara08-2009]

ANDREW ALBERS (FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, MAGNEQUENCH) There was nothing new that we were doing that the Chinese didn''t already have and know about.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) This month Clinton held an event in Valparaiso.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT) We''ve got to elect a president next January who''s going to remember Magnequench.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) Clearly some things about Magnequench Clinton has clearly forgotten.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) The Clinton campaign argues that the Chinese promised in 1995 to keep jobs and technical production in the United States. But, Charlie, they only promised to do that until 2005. And at any rate, they broke that promise. Charlie?
Pretty powerful stuff, wouldn''t you agree? Shouldn''t this have received MUCH MORE media attention, especially given recent gaffes and misstatements by Hillary, not the least of which being her claim that she ducked sniper fire in Bosnia when she was first lady?
Of course, let''s not forget the significance of Indiana to this campaign, or Tuesday''s primary.
Yet, ABC wasn''t the first to notice Hillary''s error concerning Magnequench. The Indianapolis Star reported on April 15: "After all, Magnequench was sold to a consortium that included Chinese investors in 1995 while Bill Clinton was president."

[sjbj2322]

How bright of CBS to give Obama the byline and use what Clinton said as a more reasoned explanation of the issue. Typical!

[greenfun]

Oh boy-here we go again.
ENERGY POLICY:

On energy policy, it turns out Obama is a big supporter of corn-based ethanol which is well known for being an energy-intensive crop to grow. It is estimated that seven barrels of oil are required to produce eight barrels of corn ethanol, according to research by the Cato Institute. Ethanol''s impact on climate change is nominal and isn''t "green" according to Alisa Gravitz, Co-op America executive director. "It simply isn''t a major improvement over gasoline when it comes to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions." A 2006 University of Minnesota study by Jason Hill and David Tilman, and an earlier study published in BioScience in 2005, concur. (There''s even concern that a reliance on corn-based ethanol would lead to higher food prices.)

So why would Obama be touting this as a solution to our oil dependency? Could it have something to do with the fact that the first presidential primary is located in Iowa, corn capital of the country? In legislative terms this means Obama voted in favor of $8 billion worth of corn subsidies in 2006 alone, when most of that money should have been committed to alternative energy sources such as solar, tidal and wind.

[lindaredtail]

Here in the U.S. higher food prices are primarily tied to the cost of delivery. That is fuel related (gas prices) and has nothing to do with ethanol or corn. In Egypt the show I saw pointed to bread as the problem and flour and rice. Bread in general is made of wheat or grains not corn unless the southern corn bread which isn''t as far as I know widely used in the world. Most of those price hikes are also related to delivery costs not a shortage of corn. As a matter of fact I haven''t read one credible account of their being a corn shortage. So I think before I jump on the bandwagon I''m going to study some more.

[barbara08-2009]

Gosh i wish people would wake up about her!!!!! Her Lies anything to get what she wants. You know i have also heard about the Gas Tax do you all understand that over 300,000 jobs will be lost if we do that gas tax deal??? that means 300,000 AMERICANS without jobs again under the CLINTON PLAN

[barbara08-2009]

HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE WILL SHE Sacrifice SACRIFICE to be the PRESIDENT??

[barbara08-2009]

what about the 300,000 jobs she promised us in NY?? NEVER CAME TRHOUGH!

[xlib]

DUH!! This guy is f(*&*ng BRILLIANT!! My God, he just amazes me time after time. Now, just what is his big plan.
Here''s a few points-build refineries, drill for our own oil, roll back the horrendous taxes-county, state, fed. Just roll them back to where they were a few years ago for God''s sake. The higher gas goes the more money the government rakes in. JC people, stop playing politics with our lives.

[xlib]

Oh Barbara08, are you forgetting the 10 jobs in Hamburg, NY while the bulk went to offshore jobs??? The madame is the consumate liar, which during the bubba good times was considered a bonus. Remember the big piece in the NY times?? Oh yea, she''s great.
Loved when she showed up for photo op when the Niagara Falls Air Base was about to close. She and chuckie took all kinds of credit when in fact, it was a grass roots effort.

[girlmiami]

In the case of Jeremiah Wright, this is particularly disturbing. Obama has spent twenty years in the church of this man whose basic ideology is Black Liberation Theology. This is nothing more than black separatism dressed up in fancy religious clothes. It stems from a movement that has been opposed to racial integration for more than a century.
He also chose to embrace Bill Ayers. At first I thought this was no big deal. After all, I had many friends in various radical movements (some violent) and if I ran into them on the street today, I would try to be cordial. And guilt by association is pretty sleazy behavior.
William Ayers and Obama worked together for eight years.Obama%uFFFDs wife Michelle is a co worker with Ayers wife . William Ayers sure looks happy jumping on the American Flag doesn%uFFFDt he? Every time I hear someone say Obama can%uFFFDt be responsible for what other people do or say I say back to them that you are known by the company you keep. SORRY MY VOTE IS FOR HILLARY 2008

[serrano338]

OBAMA/WRIGHT 08
YES WE CON!

[lindaredtail]

I just read a story that it is feed corn to feed cattle which is short. There are different kinds of corn and people do not eat what I was brought up to call cows corn. Not that I know of. So what exactly is the shortage to people. They are making it sound like people are starving for lack of corn and rioting over it. The shortage isn''t even of corn that people eat. Other staples used to make ethanol (which isn''t typically done yet in the US) are part of the issue. Then in those countries they should stop making ethanol with food products.I just know I won''t allow the wool to be pulled over my eyes by companies, people, media outlets, and unscrupulous politicians. I think some people are reacting to what they are hearing rather than really lookimg at it. Everyone should read the story As Food Prices Soar Some Shortages Appear which is listed above. Never think for one minute that the fuel companies would not like ethanol production to stop because they would like that very much.

[sjbj2322]

what about the 300,000 jobs she promised us in NY?? NEVER CAME TRHOUGH! - Posted by Barbara08

You know *** well that that was based on the assumption that Gore would win the Presidency, and that if he had things would certainly be different in this country. If your going to throw out accusations at least be honest in yeilding the complete argument. Otherwise you are doing nothing more than what Obama has accused others of doing - using snipets to make their case.

[barbara08-2009]

If you would like to continue to talk about the Wright deal let us also talk about who set that media meeting for Rev Wright up, Was it a CLINTON''S Personnel i smell a rat and it''s clinton and while on that subject let''s talk about hillary''s Pastor that is tied to Ayer''s

[barbara08-2009]

that''s the same as you are doing with Obama now snipit''s

[barbara08-2009]

and in the mean time.... Let''s talk about all the jobs the Bill and Hillary were betting on going over sea''s in the NAFTA deal

[girlmiami]

In the case of Jeremiah Wright, this is particularly disturbing. Obama has spent twenty years in the church of this man whose basic ideology is Black Liberation Theology. This is nothing more than black separatism dressed up in fancy religious clothes. It stems from a movement that has been opposed to racial integration for more than a century.
He also chose to embrace Bill Ayers. At first I thought this was no big deal. After all, I had many friends in various radical movements (some violent) and if I ran into them on the street today, I would try to be cordial. And guilt by association is pretty sleazy behavior.
William Ayers and Obama worked together for eight years.Obama''s wife Michelle is a co worker with Ayers wife . William Ayers sure looks happy jumping on the American Flag doesn''t he? Every time I hear someone say Obama can''t be responsible for what other people do or say I say back to them that you are known by the company you keep. SORRY MY VOTE IS FOR HILLARY 2008 Obama has no experience. RIGHT YES WE CON...HE RIPPED OFF BILL CLINTON IN HIS 1992 DEBATE CHANGE WE NEED CHANGE.. THE GUY IS SO FULL OF HIMSELF PLEASE.

HILLARY 2008
LOOK FOR YOURSELF OBAMA FANS:
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[rmsdm4]

finally we are seeing the dismantling of the global warming lie.

[barbara08-2009]

not all of NY is behind her!!

[sjbj2322]

How many people will Obama sacrifice. He threw his grandmother under the bus by saying that when she was walking down the street and saw black people it made her uncomfortable. WHAT HE FAILED TO ACKNOWLEDGE is that HE had the same feelings. Said so in his book. Do your research and then you''ll realize that he''s little more than an opportunist that will say anything for your vote.

[barbara08-2009]

and what about PETER PAUL and the goons that continue to PAY BILL over sea''s

[barbara08-2009]

I also call that GUILT BY association

[serrano338]

Obama can''t even change his church when it was clear he needed to do so. Oprah (a woman) had the foresight to see that TUCC and Wright could be a problem, and left, according to what I read, to protect her mainstream audience, and she''s not a politician) Obama criticzes without offering any of his own solutions. AND if a Clinton supporter did set up the National Press Club Press Conference then GOOD! Obama''s flip flop on Wright is his defining moment and will always be. It''s embedded in history now....forever. OBAMA/WRIGHT 08. YES WE CON!

[girlmiami]

In the case of Jeremiah Wright, this is particularly disturbing. Obama has spent twenty years in the church of this man whose basic ideology is Black Liberation Theology. This is nothing more than black separatism dressed up in fancy religious clothes. It stems from a movement that has been opposed to racial integration for more than a century.
He also chose to embrace Bill Ayers. At first I thought this was no big deal. After all, I had many friends in various radical movements (some violent) and if I ran into them on the street today, I would try to be cordial. And guilt by association is pretty sleazy behavior.
William Ayers and Obama worked together for eight years.Obama''''''''s wife Michelle is a co worker with Ayers wife . William Ayers sure looks happy jumping on the American Flag doesn''''''''t he? Every time I hear someone say Obama can''''''''t be responsible for what other people do or say I say back to them that you are known by the company you keep. SORRY MY VOTE IS FOR HILLARY 2008 Obama has no experience. RIGHT YES WE CON...HE RIPPED OFF BILL CLINTON IN HIS 1992 DEBATE CHANGE WE NEED CHANGE.. THE GUY IS SO FULL OF HIMSELF PLEASE.

LOOK FOR YOURSELF OBAMA FANS:
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2kg&hl=en" /param param name="wmode" value="transparent" /param embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7-W4GWjN2k
g&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355" /embed /object

[barbara08-2009]

William Ayers and HILLARY CLINTON''S PASTOR are also FRIENDS

[sjbj2322]

Yes Barbara....and what about Wright, Farrahkhan, Rezko, Ayers and the corrupt Chicago political machine. What about that inexcusable record of votes and participation in the Illinois Senate. What about Obama''s votes on Iraq that coincide with Hillary''s. Be honest. Obama''s past is as tainted as any others.

[barbara08-2009]

and what about PETER PAUL and the goons that continue to PAY BILL over sea''''s

[sjbj2322]

Barbara....Repeating yourself doesn''t feed your argument.

[barbara08-2009]

obama NEVER VOTED FOR THE WAR!! THAT HAS BEEN PROVEN!!

[sjbj2322]

Obama has repeatedly voted for the same funding to continue this fiasco.

[serrano338]

Obama couldn''t vote for or against the War, That is the truth. AND IT''S THE ECONOMY BARBARA. Americans are tired of Iraq and just want our troops home whit honor. Iraq is not the issue. $5.00 a gallon gas IS.

OBAMA/WRIGHT 08
YES WE CON!

[sjc_1]

This is a politically positive response and one that people can understand. The whole food/fuel debate has been distorted and blown out of proportion, but don''t let that stop anyone.

Cellulose biofuels are better than corn for lots of reasons, but the one that gets the press is SUVs versus starving people. Logic and reason have not place when it comes to emotions based on lies.

[sjbj2322]

Obama couldn''''t vote for or against the War - SO TRUE! And in his arrogance he is so out of touch with many familites in this country that he fails to understand the significance that half a tank of gas could make to their households. How dare he laugh in the face of people''s misery. If that''s not blatant arrogance, I don''t know what is.

[lindaredtail]

I am shaking my head at the garbage that I am seeing on this thread. 1. Hundreds of scientists have reviewed the evidence and agree that global warming is a real phenomenon. 2. Barack Obama is not a Muslim. That he is is the view of extremists. 3.We have a double standard in this country when it comes to talking about ministers. Hillary has a connection to an extremist group called the "Fellowship" run by an individual named Doug Coe. They are associated with right-wing politicians such as Rick Santorum and Inhofe. She has been involved with them since the 1990''s. They are just as extreme on the opposite end of things from Reverend Wright. Look them up for yourselves. Hillary should explain. And McCain calls Reverend Parsley his spiritual advisor. The Islam has to be utterly defeated Parsley (just a bit of a bigot) Where is the criticism of that? What do I see on this thread. Free thinkers? No. I see sheep. Lots of sheep eating up other people''s opinions, not researching for themselves, bleating like sheep, and in general in that small minded flock mentality like good little sheep. If we all think and act like sheep this election cycle America is in a lot of trouble for certain.

[barbara08-2009]

Obama tried the gas tax and it never worked!!! why would you sit and talk about gas tax when it doesnt work??

[sjbj2322]

When and where did Obama try the gas tax. When and where did he even have the authority to impose one? Listen to him Barbara. He flip-flops just like Kerry. First he was for biofuels - now he says he''s not because people would starve when its not food grains that are being depleted. Do some research before assuming that he knows what he''s talking about.

[barbara08-2009]

hypocrite hypocrite hypocrites

[sjbj2322]

Oh you are so kidding in calling anyone a hypocrite. You haven''t done your research, so what does that make you. I''ll take being informed anyday to merely trying to make a case on what a candidate said that has a vested interest in my not taking the time to do it.