Every time there is an urge to give President Bush the benefit of some doubt as to whether there is any intelligent life in the White House, he takes the stage in the Oval Office or the Rose Garden and swiftly demolishes any such doubt.
Donning the vestment of the High Chieftain of the Cult of Incompetence, George W. Bush publicly pronounced his position respecting the recent United States Supreme Court decision that the EPA has failed to present a reasonable justification for its failure to regulate carbon emissions that increase greenhouse gases leading to global warming. The Administration had tried to argue that carbon emissions were not "pollutants" and not something that the EPA had authority to regulate. That position was so weak that even the Supreme Court that Bush has stacked in his favor could not find a way to uphold. Bush reluctantly acknowledged what 99+ percent of all reputable scientists have confirmed, that human generated carbon emissions are a significant contribution to global warming. He ceded that such emissions should be regulated BUT only if the regulations do not impact economic growth AND only if the reductions from the regulation are not offset by emissions from India and China.
Bush joins ranks with other stalwart advocates of obliviousness and incompetence, such as “Dr. Z” who heads Daimler-Chrysler. Dr. Z recently announced that the most significant factor in the automaker’s loss of well over $1 Billion in the last quarter was the “unforeseeable” shift of consumers toward smaller and more fuel efficient cars, while Chrysler continues to churn out minivans and SUV’s that guzzle gas. Is it any wonder that his company is tanking [excuse the pun] while Toyota and Honda continue to eat up market share with a sustained business campaign to build and sell quality fuel efficient cars for more than a decade? Whatever Business school issued Dr. Z his certificate ought to revoke it out of sheer embarrassment.
But more importantly, President Bush deserves the Knucklehead Award for suggesting that a federal standard regulating carbon emissions would harm the economy. Most experts in the auto industry believe that enacting a federal standard, rather than the eminent patchwork of state standards that will arise if the federal government fails to act, will give the industry a useful tool for fighting back toward profitability against Toyota, Honda and other foreign manufacturers. A coalition of power companies joined environmental groups to push for standardized regulation of power plants. Not only would EPA regulation of carbon emissions be good for the environment, it would be good for business as well.
Finally, the attempt to excuse failure of the EPA to enact greenhouse gas regulations based upon the lack of progress in China and India in obtaining such emission regulations is both juvenile and short sighted. First, US carbon emissions exceed all the CO2 emissions of China and India [and throw in the entire Far East] combined. Such thinking is not leadership, it is abdication. The USA has long been the global leader in environmental progress, at least until the Bush Administration took office. To abandon leadership because one of the other players is reluctant to go along is just silly. Since our contributions to the problem are far greater than those of India or China, delayed participation by the US seriously aggravates the deterioration caused by global warming. In addition, China and India will receive pressure from trading partners that will impose tariffs and other sanctions against them to reduce competitive advantages that may derive from failure to regulate pollution. Such pressures are likely to bring them into the fold.
After applying the simplest logic and common sense, therefore, we are forced back to square one in an effort to build a case that there is any sensible and intelligent leadership emanating from the White House. Stupid is as stupid does!
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