After I read the great review of "Nudge" at LvMI this morning, I started doing a little reading on the subject and I stumbled upon this upcoming NYT review of the book.
According to the article, Obama and his economic team oppose outright bans and strict regulations, but instead prefer the "nudging" approach. After reading the article, I've came to the conclusion that Obama is to the right of Clinton on economic issues (opposed to the narrative that he's to the left of her) and pretty close to McCain, with McCain possibly favoring more outright bans and restrictions on economic activity than Obama would -- and I include the environment in that category; McCain favors capping total economic output (by capping industrial CO2 emissions), while Obama favors CO2 taxes that would allow CO2 emissions to grow, but at a higher cost to them. Neither are good options, but an Obama CO2 tax paired with a payroll tax cut is far preferable to McCain's anti-growth plan that erects massive barriers to entry for new market participants (under his plan, emitters get credit for current emissions, while new producers have to pay for the carbon credits).
Combined with his opposition to the war and his support for civil liberties, Obama is far, far preferable to McCain, although I'll still be casting my vote for Barr (who I see as a flawed Paul -- similar in many ways, but nowhere near the real thing) if he gets the nod.
