This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.
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A plaque on the wall at Wal-Mart headquarters carries a quote attributed to Sam Walton. It says:
Incrementalism is innovation's worst enemy.
We don't want continuous improvement,
we want radical change.
That plaque should be mounted on the door of every caucus room and voting place in America on Tuesday, because it gives the key to electing the next president of the United States.
If the most popular word of the 2008 presidential campaign is "change," then let's take a moment to think about what "change" means. For the sake of discussion, let's categorize change into two types: transactional and transformational.
Transactional change might be a new tax credit, a new regulation, a new policy that alters the way we transact business. When the candidates get into specific proposals about energy and climate policy, for example, they generally are describing transactional change. In that department, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both have issued detailed energy and climate platforms. They far outclass John McCain and Mitt Romney, who have not.
Transformational change is something altogether different. As Wikipedia explains:
