VP nominee Sarah Palin delivered the keynote speech tonight, and the majority of the the substantive section focused on energy policy. (Transcript from the RNC below.)

The gist: The U.S. needs energy independence from "dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart," like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, as well as terrorists in Saudi Arabia. I know that drilling won't solve the problem, but it is a good step in the right direction. To truly solve the problem America also needs to foster nuclear power, clean coal, and renewables.

Though I'm not sure the drilling is truly helpful in the short term, the rest of her strategy is on point (although admittedly vague).

Two quick points:

1. This sentence doesn't work: "With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers"...unless the antecedent of "ourselves" is "the U.S. and our allies," which doesn't seem to be what she intends in this instance. Russia's control of oil flow to Europe is a strategic issue for the U.S., but it has little to do with America's dependence on foreign oil.
2. She says, "But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all," presumably to imply that Obama's energy policy is nothing at all. In fact, it is remarkably similar to what Obama suggested in his acceptance speech. The U.S. is lucky to have so many potential leaders committed to robust reform of its energy policies.

The full section:

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher.

When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.

But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.

I finally made it to the New America panel on the Middle East in St. Paul this morning, after two hours on a crosstown bus from Minneapolis These twin cities are not Siamese.

Since I came in late and the conversation was so rich, I'll hold my comments other than to say it's worth watching the whole discussion.

If you had subscribed to UN Dispatch's twitter feed, you would have known that you could watch it live. That's your cue to sign up...

Yesterday, at the Humphrey Institute symposium, Richard Fontaine, a foreign policy adviser for John McCain, laid out a snapshot of what foreign aid might look like under a McCain presidency.

Fontaine says that what he's done in the past gives a good idea of how he will act in the future. McCain:

• Pushed for full funding of the "150 account," the international affairs budget, which Fontaine says is an expression of U.S. leadership in the world, of our soft power and moral position.
• Cosponsored the $50 billion version of the Pepfar bill and has been a supporter of Pepfar from the beginning.
• Strongly supports the Millennium Challenge Corporation, along with clear benchmarks.

Fontaine went on to say that McCain will be "very aggressive" on aid. He has stated the goal of eradicating malaria from African continent and will continue to try to build on MCC model linking aid to good governance and reform.

He also made the point that our trade, agriculture, and development policies all "don't point in the right direction," bringing up the example of Burkina Faso, which, he claims, has a cotton industry that is hindered more by U.S. trade policy than they receive in foreign aid every year.

Bill McInturff is now giving a presentation at the Humphrey Institute on the polling that we previously posted on.

One of the most striking things he highlighted were the convergence of views by Republicans, Democrats, and Independents on international concerns (slide 5 below). "American's Dependence on Foreign Oil," "The Global Economy and Trade," and "Terrorism" were in each group's top three. This bodes well for building consensus to move forward on each. This is true for "America's dependence on foreign oil" in particular, which was listed as the top priority by twice as many voters (33% vs. 67%) in July 2008 as in September 2007 (slide 3 below).

Day two at the Humphrey Institute's symposium has begun. Bright and early, we're discussing the "Foreign Policy Challenges for the Next Administration" with Edward Alden, Kim Holmes, Michael Levi, Benn Steil, and Richard Haas.

Holmes (from Heritage) is taking unfair (and untrue) shots at the UN, saying that it has depreciated value for the U.S. because of our limited influence there. I think it's pretty clear that the U.S. has tremendous influence at the UN (even beyond the fact that they hold one of five veto spots in the Security Council). If the U.S. is not getting the results it needs, it's because its representatives are not engaging enough. That includes paying our dues in full, as is included in the Republican platform (Mark will write more on this later).

What is interesting is that Holmes has a laundry list of UN accomplishments on his Heritage Foundation bio page, including:

Holmes was instrumental in ensuring that the U.N. Security Council acted to establish the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and addressed the serious matters of genocide in Sudan and sexual abuses by U.N. peacekeepers in the Congo and elsewhere.

He garnered multilateral support for the Security Council's first-ever nonproliferation resolution that also affirms the utility of partnerships such as the U.S. Proliferation Security Initiative.

He helped secure a new U.N. mandate that the U.N.'s Office of Internal Oversight Services must release its reports to member states upon request.

He led the outcry over Libya's assuming chairmanship of the Commission on Human Rights, which began today's universal call for that body's total refashioning.

He was instrumental in establishing both a democracy caucus and a Democracy Fund at the U.N. and in getting many qualified Americans into high-level positions in various U.N. and international organization secretariats.

I agree. These are significant accomplishments and are things that Holmes should be proud of not only online, but in person.

There was a bright side at the end of Holmes's statement however. He smartly dismissed the idea of a "League of Democracies" right out. McCain has pushed this idea in the past. I'm heading to a panel where Bill McInturff will discuss polling on Amercans' views of U.S. engagement abroad. I'll see if we can glean any more information about where the American public comes down on these issues.

At a panel on the future of U.S. foreign assistance, Oxfam President Raymond Offenheiser just pulled out an One Day 1 type suggestion that the next president develop a National Foreign Development Strategy (like the National Security Strategy) soon after entering office. Such a strategy doesn't currently exist.

I thought I was on the ball when I emailed my colleagues at On Day One to suggest they get a video from Offenheiser. Already done. I should be more plugged into On Day One, so should you.

I'm sitting in on a very enjoyable panel on Climate Change and Energy Security hosted by Reid Detchon from the UN Foundation and featuring J. Michael Davis, former Assistant Secretary of Energy under Bush 41; Robert McFarlane, former National Security Advisor to President Reagan; George Pataki; and R. James Woolsey, former CIA director under Clinton.

Piece of advice, if you get a chance to catch a panel hosted by Detchon (excellent dry wit) or featuring the others, particularly Woolsey or Davis, you should.

My battery's dying, so I'll have to upload some more thoughts later, but the first thing that struck me was how the ideas of those on the panel very closely match what I have heard being said about or by Obama recently.

Both Davis and Pataki mentioned right off the bat that we must rely on markets, but that those markets, because they are imperfect, must be tweaked by the government. This tacks closely to this New York Times magazine article on Obama's economic philosophy. Granted, this is not, at all, a rarely held opinion, but it is interesting that the even the phrasing is very similar.

Second, despite the fact that the panel's focus is "climate change and energy security," the most often used phrased early on is "decreasing dependence on foreign oil," which loyal UN Dispatch readers will remember was a central pillar of Obama's acceptance speech.

*Update - Reid Detchon pointed out to me that Obama's speech referenced independence from "Middle East" oil not "foreign" oil, something that I should have caught. Dependence from Middle East oil (roughly 20% of U.S. consumption) is a pretty weak measure and not nearly enough.

Despite the paring down of the Republican National Convention due to Hurricane Gustav, there will, at the very least, be a full slate of discussions at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and I'll be here to cover it. Stay tuned.