Yesterday John McCain gave a major speech on energy policy in Houston. His campaign will unveil additional details about his proposed energy policies in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I offer an initial critique of McCain's energy platform -- "Running on Half a Tank" -- on NRO.

In today's WSJ, Karl Rove observes both John McCain and Barack Obama are proving "that in close elections during tough economic times, candidates for president can be economically illiterate and irresponsibly populist." He criticizes Obama for embracing a Carter-esque windfall profits tax, and McCain for seeking to direct how oil companies invest their own profits. He concludes:

Messrs. Obama and McCain both reveal a disturbing animus toward free markets and success. It is uncalled for and self-defeating for presidential candidates to demonize American companies. It is understandable that Mr. Obama, the most liberal member of the Senate, would endorse reckless policies that are the DNA of the party he leads. But Mr. McCain, a self-described Reagan Republican, should know better.

Rove is not known for his mastery of energy policy or economic principles, but in this case he's right on target.

Senator McCain gave another speech on energy policy today in Fresno. As I discuss here, it was more promising than what he said last week. In particular, I like that he is calling for a government-sponsored prize for innovation (something I've discussed before here).