Good old T. Boone.

Cannot help but love an oilman turned wind wizzard with a name like that.

You know his announcement earlier this week, chronicled in a WSJ op-ed "My Plan to Escape the Grip of Foreign Oil." Get wind to generate one-fifth of our electricity - which the feds say is doable.

I subscribe to the view that we need as much of everything as possible in our energy kitchen. More nuclear - next generation stuff. Better coal-fired plants. Wind, Solar and energy efficiency.

The problem with Pickens' plan is he appears to be engaging in some hand trick. Take wind and get it to replace the natural gas used to generate electricity, he says. Then use the natural gas to move our nations' vehicles. That begs some important questions. There is an emerging consensus that we need to move to plug-in vehicles. That will maximize grid efficiency, particularly with a smart grid that can orchestrate powering up the vehicles in overnight low-peak-demand hours.

The question we need to ask is how to we get the most wind. The most natural gas - from US and abroad. The most coal and nuclear and hydro.

Push it all to the limit - and limit as much as possible market distortions. We need incentives to build the next round of nuclear - and Congress has so provided. And wind and solar need subsidies to ramp up technology and achieve scalability. And Congress turns those subsidies on and off way too frequently. They should be put in place for a decade and left alone.

What we should not do is become preocupied with which fuel goes where. We should be focused on creating a national energy policy that maximizes all our resources.

Unsaid by Boone is that energy demand is ever growing in our society and around the world. So wind is more likely to help us deal with growing demand - alongside natural gas powered generation, coal, nuclear and energy efficiency  - for a long time to come.  Which fuel goes where is of secondary importance to maximizing the total portfolio.

Boone does get credit for focusing attention on the need for a national energy policy. In that regard, he quickly proved he is more the showman than either Obama or McCain.