Obama will outline his energy policy during speech at Fitch

AUSTINTOWN — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama will outline his energy proposal, which includes eliminating the need for oil from the Middle East and Venezuela in a decade, during a town hall-style meeting Tuesday at Austintown Fitch High School.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee began his “New Energy for America” tour today in Lansing, Mich., and brings it to the Mahoning Valley Tuesday.

About 2,000 people are expected to attend the meeting in the school’s gymnasium.

It’s Obama’s first return to the heavily-Democratic Mahoning Valley since he was soundly defeated in the March 4 Democratic primary by U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will travel with Obama to Austintown and to a later stop in Berea, and will speak at both events. The campaign also called Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, an early Obama supporter, today asking that he attend the Austintown meeting; a request he’s honoring.

Obama’s and Strickland’s birthdays were today with volunteers throughout Ohio holding parties and calling about 47,000 voters urging them to support the Democratic presidential candidate.

In his speech today in Lansing, Obama of Illinois outlined an energy plan that includes short-term and long-term solutions.

Among his short-term proposals are a $1,000 energy rebate for working families as well as selling oil from the federal strategic petroleum stockpile and a limited amount of new off-shore drilling as part of a comprehensive plan. The latter two are reversals from previous positions.

Long-term, Obama wants to invest $150 billion to build a new energy economy that would create 5 million new jobs and eliminate the need for oil from the Middle East and Venezuela in 10 years.

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