Let's just hope that this is the case, that climate change will be "one of the keynotes of the State of the Union address" by President Bush on January 23, and that "[t]he sands are clearly shifting on climate change for this administration." Can Bush salvage some sort of legacy from his heretofore utterly disastrous Presidency? Perhaps, perhaps not. But, if he is going to move up the historical rankings from "worst ever" even to "mediocre" (let alone "good") he's going to have to take bold actions in his last 2 years, break with hard-right-wing orthodoxy on numerous fronts (environment, taxes, health care, embryonic stem cell research, foreign policy, you name it), and generally start working with Congress and not just acting as an arrogant, authoritarian, unilateral "decider."
Can Bush do this? I'm highly skeptical. But, I'm a tiny bit hopeful as well. Why hopeful? Because Bush must know that if he does NOT make major changes - and fast! - he will not only go down in history as the worst President ever, he also will disgrace the Bush family name for generations to come. And that can't be a pleasant prospect for him to contemplate.
P.S. Bush also might, just MIGHT, have noticed how Ah-nuld turned his governorship around in Kah-lee-fuh-nya by taking strong action on climate change, health care, and other critically important issues.
But then he will use the same lie: "We spent $25 billion researching this issue..." The mystery $25 billion which no alternative technology ever saw. Why doesn't he then say "...but even though climate change is a problem, and hundreds of millions could die, those Democrats were mean to me, and they support alternative energy and conservation, and they hurt my feelings. My feelings are more important than stupid climate change, so I am cutting there funding. I want my mommy!"
Take "No child left behind" imposed all kinds of measure but never funded.
Look at the Republican Convention in '04. Promised to back and fund education. After winning the election the next thing he did was cut funding. This President is an absolute liar when he says he will do good for the entire American People. Oh, you can believe him when he says he will cut taxes for the wealthy or give the oil industry tax breaks, but that is the only time anyone can believe Bush, the liar.
Listened to "Meet the Press" then "Face the Nation". Listening to those shows first reminded me of the "Axis of Evil" speech, then this last speech to the Nation. Right away my daughter said Bush will attach Iran by the end of the month. I disagreed, I said after a month not the end of the month.
Back in March 2003, as the 2 of us sat and watched the first attach on Iraq, We both said there is something wrong here. The Weapons Inspectors were pulled out, even though nothing was found ands now we are declaring War on Iraq a country that has been fueding since the 1300's. Then I gave them the benifit of the doubt " with they have the intelligence", but now I know better an I will fight this village idiot to the best of my ability.
Hope to see you all on the Maul in DC on Jan. 27th.
If I were a gambling man, I'd bet that what (if anything) we'll see from them are a set of tax incentives and such, along the lines of what Chuck Hagel (another major opponent of Kyoto) has proposed. I'd have a myocardial infarction if the Bush administration proposed any kind of mandatory carbon controls.
P.S., on Ahnold vs. Bush, see today's Toles cartoon
So I'm not only highly skeptical of any supposed climate change efforts, I'm also hesitant to even agree that he's worried about disgracing his name. Why would he feel badly if he knows he's done the right thing?
It's one thing to finally admit--yeah, the temperatures are getting warmer. It's another to say, "and it's because of actions such as CO2 emissions." The human factors have been the flashpoint.