Obama Election Watch

There are tens of millions of voters in the United States who put guarding the environment — and particularly the protection of birds and wildlife — at the very top of their concerns in making their voting decisions.

Conservation-minded voters are heavily concentrated in the battleground state of Florida where there are huge numbers of bird watchers and seniors with deep commitments to saving the environment.

This past week the Bush administration announced that it would seek radical cutbacks in federal protections of endangered species. Bush proposes that federal agencies should now decide for themselves as to whether construction projects or other developments will harm endangered species. The new regulations would apply to any development project built or funded by the federal government.

Clearly this proposal puts the foxes in charge of guarding the henhouse.

Under the procedures that have been in place for decades, scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are brought into the decision-making process on whether a particular project would harm endangered birds or other species. Now, under the radical change proposed by Bush, federal agencies would make their own determinations. For example, the Transportation Department would have the final decision as to whether a new highway or airport runway extension would adversely affect an endangered bird by destroying critical habitat. The Defense Department would be the sole decider as to whether the expansion of a military facility would interfere with an endangered species.

The Bush plan gives Obama a valuable opportunity to strengthen his position among environmentalists by taking a strong stance in opposition to the administration’s plan. This would put John McCain on the spot where he must either back Bush or lose the votes of many environmentalists. McCain projects himself to voters as the new Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican with strong environmental credentials. But as OEW has shown in an earlier post, McCain has repeatedly sacrificed environmental concerns in favor of land developers who have made political contributions to his campaigns.

This wildlife issue could swing many thousands of votes in Florida to Obama. Florida is loaded with birders and other environmentalists who will be solidly opposed to Bush’s plan to gut the Endangered Species Act. McCain risks losing their votes if he signs on to the president’s plan.

McCain’s stance on this issue, no matter which side he is on, will present the GOP candidate with political problems. If McCain supports the president’s new proposal he will damage his reputation on the environment that he has worked hard to manufacture. On the other hand, if McCain opposes the president’s new proposal he will anger those on the right who call for reduced government regulation and red tape — an important Republican constituency.

No matter what position McCain takes on Bush’s proposal he will be in hot water with many voters. The Obama campaign should hound McCain until he makes a stand on the issue.