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As noted in McCain DisDain for being truthful, the townhall debate actually fostered some good questions. And, for the first time in the Presidential debates and far more pointedly than has occurred in any traditional TV situation, Ingrid Jackson asked a pointed question on climate change (video):

Sen. McCain, I want to know, we saw that Congress moved pretty fast in the face of an economic crisis. I want to know what you would do within the first two years to make sure that Congress moves fast as far as environmental issues, like climate change and green jobs?

Ingrid Jackson wasn’t fully satisfied with either McCain’s nor Obama’s response to her question.

Jackson criticized both candidates for not really addressing the time-frame of two years that she stated in her question. “I don’t think the either one dealt with the urgency issue,” she said. “I think it’s very feasible for them to do things within the first two years, especially since the green jobs would help the economy … It’s possible – it’s just going to cost money.”

Ingrid Jackson didn’t only hit it out the part with the question, but in her after-the-fact analysis as well.

There is much that can, that should be done within the first two years of the next presidency. And, green jobs is a critical path toward helping the economy rebound from the disaster that it is in in.

There is a question, however, as to her last line: “It’s possible — it’s just going to cost money.” While the programs are going to cost to buy, they almost certain will return more benefits to the US economy and the Treasury than they are going to cost. This mindset that ‘going green’, considering the extent of inefficiency in the US economy, is “going to cost” is one that we all need to move past.

In any event, Jackson did not rate the candidates equally.

when it came to McCain, he just kind of went through his same spiel, and brought the focus back to offshore drilling, which is not going to help the environment. McCain, his response was good, but I feel like he was just giving the same thing … he used it to plug his offshore drilling.”

When it came to Barack Obama,

I liked Obama’s response, just because he seemed to agree that it was a very important issue.

Jackson said she liked Obama’s response that “we can’t simply drill our way out of the problem.”

“There’s no need to do offshore drilling when we don’t even have the capacity. We don’t have the oil reserves as compared to the rest of the world. And I think that the focus should be on not using fossil fuels, not drilling for more. I believe that Obama is more like me in that respect.”

Kudos to Kate Sheppard at Grist for seeking out Jackson and getting her thoughts on the record.

Climate Change is the critical issue. With the financial crisis and peak oil, this trilogy represent a perfect storm of crises. These are difficult challenges, individually, hard to “solve”. And, mediocre responses to any of the three could doom our prospects for navigating this perfect storm safely. The traditional media has, writ large, chosen to ignore climate change in discussing the election, buying into simplistic portrayals of John McCain and suggesting that there are no great differences between McCain-Pain and Obama-Biden when it comes to climate issues.

For a moment, a single voter, Ingrid Jackson, changed this equation and brought climate change to the fore in the national discussion.

Why, Ingrid, why? She remembers her grade school, decades ago, talking about environmental issues.

It’s kind of like a death sentence. So, fast-forward and it’s 20 years later and we still haven’t done anything, really

But it is a death sentence that politicians rarely address. “I knew when they asked me to come that my question was going to be about the environment, because everybody always focuses on what’s hot at the moment, and people forget about the environment.”

We should recognize someone else: Tom Brokaw. Brokaw chose the question, Ingrid made her way through the filter to be able to stand up in front of a national audience. And, Brokaw added a follow-up question as well. Thus, hat tip to Tom.

In any event, Ingrid has now moved to ask another question. She has a message on behalf of 350.org:

Dear Friends –

My name is Ingrid Jackson and if you watched the Presidential Debate last night, you saw me ask about a subject that is of the greatest importance to me.

Our planet.

The candidates answered the question, but neither acknowledged my sense of urgency. If I could have asked a follow-up, it would have been this: will you take the immediate steps necessary to deal with this crisis?
As a group of concerned citizens, we can ask that follow up question. It’s time that we make the candidates commit to making substantial changes in our environmental policies. The world cannot wait.

Will you get involved?

Click here to demand Obama and McCain take immediate action, not just in the next two years – – but in the next two months, by going to the United Nations this December and recommitting the US in the fight against global warming:

I am joining Ingrid and sending “an invitation to the next US President“. Will you?