Not to keep harping on it, but it doesn't seem that anyone running for office can resist the temptation to trumpet the promise of coal as crucial to the supply of future U.S. energy. The Washington Post chronicles Barack Obama's shifting positions on new-wave liquefied coal in a story today. At least the Post (and, perhaps to a lesser degree, Obama himself) is clear that there is a tradeoff involved between addressing climate change and the false ideal of energy independence.