Bill Clinton on Global Warming Plans

About a month ago I had a post regarding John McCain's global warming plan. I calculated that McCain's plan to cut emissions to 40% of 1990 levels by 2050 meant that we would need to produce each unit of GDP with 1/15-th the amount of carbon dioxide. It turns out that Barack Obama's plan calls for cuts down to 20% of 1990 levels. So each unit of GDP would need to be produced with 1/30-th the C02, an even more preposterous proposal. Bill Clinton weighs in:

"Because I believe so strongly in this, I favor Senator Obama's position, which is to go to 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses over Senator McCain's position, which is to go to 70 percent," he said. "But that's light years ahead of where Republican's have been."

Now Bill Clinton has always seemed like a pretty bright guy, and I suspect he has a better mind for this sort of analysis than either McCain or Obama. So the question in my mind is if he really believes in these numbers. His statement certainly seems to indicate that he does, indeed he implies that 10% is significant. If McCain promised to fund development of a car that could go coast-to-coast on a thimbleful of gas, would Clinton come out suggest that an Obama plan for a 1/2-thimble car is so much better?

I think he would, though he would think it nonsense. My guess is that Clinton is playing pure politics here.