Barack Obama wants us free of foreign oil (that means Russia's oil as well), in 10 years. John McCain's plan calls for us to be free in 17 years. That speaks to the intent, as well as their methods with regards to energy policy. Obama believes that we should move faster while, by utilizing a balanced combination of market forces coupled with activist government influence, while McCain is content to take an unbalanced, slower more laissez faire market forces approach with much less government activism. For example, both candidates talk about conservation, but if you look closely at their approaches McCain favors only enforcing current CAFE mileage standards. He says nothing about improving them. From the McCain website - "John McCain Will Effectively Enforce Existing CAFE Standards. John McCain has long supported CAFE standards - the mileage requirements that automobile manufacturers' cars must meet. Some carmakers ignore these standards, pay a small financial penalty, and add it to the price of their cars. John McCain believes that the penalties for not following these standards must be effective enough to compel all carmakers to produce fuel-efficient vehicles."
Obama wants the CAFE standards raised to 40 MPG (Europe has been there for a while, so the technology exists). We don't have time to waste