McCain's (underwhelming) plan to break our dependence on oil

Today, John McCain kicked off a two week initiative to offer his "bold" vision to "break our strategic dependence on oil." (This is the same plan that he promised will "prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.")

McCain spoke in California and focused on the transportation sector. Here's my summary of his key points (full text here).

(1) We must produce more oil, use less of it, and develop alternative energy sources. [This is the standard GOP policy framework.]

(2) Auto fuel efficiency standards (CAFE) are not effective because they are enforced by small fines. [He offered no specifics. Moreover, even though he's supported some new CAFE standards, he has opposed the toughest standards which he seems to be demanding now.]

(3) Expand usage of alcohol-based fuels by eliminating tariffs on Brazilian sugar-based ethanol and ending subsidies for corn-based ethanol. [The NYT hit Obama pretty hard on this issue today, with some justification.]

(4) Replace all existing incentives programs for energy-efficient cars with a sliding scale tax credit topping out at $5,000 per car for a zero emissions car. He calls this a Clean Car Challenge and the tax credit would be available to every car purchaser.

(5) Offer a $300 million prize for the first person to develop a battery that "has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars."

I have to say that this all strikes me as pretty lame. Points 1 and 2 are essentially meaningless. I tend to agree with point 3 and would be interested in exploring point 4.

His fifth point, which is really the centerpiece of his proposal, seems remarkably stupid though.

First, it's rewarding the development of a specific kind of power source rather than the development of a power source that meets a specific objective. If the goal is independence from foreign oil and zero emissions, why not just reward a zero emissions, fuel efficient motor that may or may not include a battery?

Second, without even looking at the data, I'm sure that anyone who could develop a revolutionary technology for powering vehicles would make more than $300 million in the marketplace from that invention. The problem is getting the capital needed to conduct the research in the first place, and McCain's plan doesn't address that.

McCain has said he'll be spending next two weeks detailing his vision, but so far he's off to a fairly weak start.