David Brooks is worried about Hillary Clinton’s supposed lack of “imagination,” particularly in relation to her position on coal mining in W. Virginia.
Hillary actually shows great imagination in her coal miners' proposal -- phase coal out, but help the miners. Here is her actual Program:
- Protect health and retirement benefits for retired coal miners.
- Ensure public schools in coal communities remain funded even as the coal-related revenues that currently support them decline.
- Make major infrastructure investments in coal communities in order to grow local economies and increase employment.
- Increase public investment in research and development in coal-producing regions.
- Expand tax credits in communities that are suffering from the coal industry's decline in order to attract new private investment.
- Provide job training for workers and technical assistance for small businesses in coal communities.
- Fund programs that make homes in coal communities more energy efficient, saving families money on their electric bills. [HillaryClinton.com, The Briefing, 11/12/15]
And here is the statement for which she must “atone”:
CLINTON: I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right, Tim?
And we're going to make it clear that we don't want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories.
Now we've got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels, but I don't want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy that we relied on. [CNN, Democratic Town Hall, 3/13/16]
Yes — the second sentence is politically tone-deaf — even 1984-I’m gonna raise your taxes-Mondale-esque —- but the policy shows Hillary understands both the environmental and human sides of the issue.
Yes, 57,000 miners will ultimately cease being miners, but they can and should be supported financially and retrained, if possible.
57,000 miners' jobs pales in comparison to the effects of the coal they are mining on ours and our children’s future. Brooks claims to like imagination and nuance, but he doesn't see it when it's staring him in the face, as HIllary Clinton’s nuanced -- green, yet humane -- coal proposal is.