Know Nothings — The Bellows

Global warming, boy, Dick Gephardt doesn’t know. I attended this discussion yesterday, on infrastructure investment, with featured speakers Dick Gephardt and Newt Gingrich. Gingrich was pretty decent on infrastructure, but the only reference to climate change he could make was a comment about the need to invest in “green coal” and nuclear power. I expected more from Gephardt. I got less — “I’m not a scientist,” etc., “if it’s becoming a problem…if it’s true, and i hope it isn’t,” etc.

Just embarrassing. On other issues of foreign policy or economics legislators current and former would sooner die than plead ignorance. They’d make up things about China or deficits before hiding behind a defense like that.

The House vote on Waxman-Markey is imminent. I guess we’ll soon see whether America has anything to show for itself at Copenhagen, or if the rest of the world will have to try and sort something out to help themselves while 300 million of the world’s biggest emitters thank the lord that they managed to avoid shelling out $40 more for electricity in 2020.

Comments

low-tech cyclist says:

June 25, 2009 at 5:20 pm

Given how watered-down W-M currently is, and given that the Senate will surely make it even worse if it passes anything at all, I’d say the rest of the world is on its own, dammit.

It feels as if Obama, while paying some attention to climate change, has let it proceed mostly on autopilot, while he concentrates on health care reform.

I think this has been a mistake for two reasons:

1) The public is still being brought up to speed on what should be done about climate change, and whether it’s even that urgent. Some use of the Presidential bully pulpit to bring the public up to speed, to prepare the ground for the legislative debate, would have been extremely helpful.

2) To the extent that the public was up to speed on this, other things (health care, Sotomayor, Ensign and Sanford) have grabbed the stage. You can’t get Congress to do what’s good for the people, rather than what’s good for the moneyed interests, unless they sense that people are paying attention. In this case, Congress knew it was safe.

Like I keep saying, I’d prefer that W-M quietly die, so that we can get a fresh start in 2011.
BeyondDC says:

June 25, 2009 at 5:26 pm

Obama seems to be leaving EVERYTHING else to autopilot until health care is done.
Linda says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:18 am

Not sure why anyone who followed his career in Congress would expect anything from Gephardt.

Congress, especially the House, is all about parochialism and their next election–always just around the corner. Leaving the institution doesn’t seem to free most former members to think about issues in a meaningful way. By that time the finger in the wind caution has become a reflex. I’m sure Gehpardt knows as much about climate change as the next sentient person, but there’s someone he wishes not to offend–probably a current or potential client.

I don’t know how Obama or anyone else can break through this. If the recent economic crisis and the data on climate change are not enough to push members out of this micro focus and their bubbles of self-interest, it’s hard to imagine what will.