Seriously!
The President was quoted this week on the subject of climate change. He said, "Our guiding principle is clear. We must lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people." Translation: This administration is solidly behind any solution to climate change that doesn't harm Halliburton, (Cheney would never approve), or any of his polluting, corporate friends. One suspects that the only climate change that George W. is aware of is the noticeable chill he gets when he checks his approval rating.
But it is not by words alone that a man be judged but by his deeds. So let's take a look at the environmental record of this administration.
Florida had barely swept up all the chads from the counting room floor before George and his gang set to work heating up the planet by torching the Kyoto Accords. As with most global compromises, Kyoto had something in it for everyone to hate. Mostly, as the largest consumer of fossil fuels, the United States was required to do a lot of pollution reduction. Never mind that there would have been a considerable benefit to Americans in the form of cleaner air. American business was uninterested in being told to clean up its act. The United States would never have had to actually do anything. Just signing the documents would have made us look like a responsible world citizen.
However, an administration of cowboys and clueless, cultural conservatives has a different view. The world is America's sandbox and screw everyone else.
To show the new administration's commitment to the environment, George nominated Gail Norton to the post of Interior Secretary. Gail came to the job with considerable experience, having served as the PR flack for the timber industry. Gail proceeded to feed every piece of land and tree-saving legislation she could locate into a wood chipper. Gail abruptly left Washington just ahead of some awkward questions regarding an embarrassing "donation" from Smilin' Jack Abramoff. Jack probably needed approval to build a hotel/casino on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
Christine Todd Whitman became Bush's chief of the Environmental Protection Agency. Christine, a native of New Jersey, knew a bad smell when she smelled it and, having discovered that her primary role in the cabinet was to shut up and make the coffee, she quickly departed. Christine was replaced by (Hands, please. Anybody?) ...Stephen Johnson. Mr. Johnson maintains a profile that's so low his picture is now appearing on milk cartons in the EPA cafeteria. His background is scientific thus he spends his days dispensing antibiotics to the pigeons on the Mall lest they contract bird flu.
Thus we have an administration that has disabled or ignored every bit of environmental legislation since the ban on leaded gas. Now that Al Gore has an Oscar, and Emmy and a Nobel Prize (Can you imagine how much that frosts the White House?) because of his work on climate change, George has discovered the great outdoors.
You have to wonder whether this President thinks that we are the stupidest, most clueless people on the planet. Well, come to think of it, why wouldn't he? We elected him to the office...twice. If that's not clueless, what is?
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