NY Times on GOP's Intention to Attack EPA & Country

It is pretty clear that the environment and all those in the U.S. trying to protect it are going to be facing a full court press when the 2011 Congress moves in. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently said, “if they think it’s bad now, wait till next year.”

The New York Times has a new editorial on this matter, which basically gives Obama a big push to protect the EPA from this assault. It reminds us of the attack President Bill Clinton endured in the mid-’90s.

In 1995, the Newt Gingrich crowd came to town promising to overturn a whole body of environmental law. Mr. Clinton rose up, not only winning the big battles, but eventually compiling a sterling record. Mr. Obama should emulate him.

However, it also notes that protecting the environment hasn’t been a strong point of the Obama administration.

President Obama’s political advisers have shown little enthusiasm for environmental issues. Mr. Obama himself ceded leadership on the climate-change issue to Congress, which ended up doing nothing….

Leading climate and political blogger Dr. Joe Romm agrees wholeheartedly with this piece. In summary of his views on this matter, he states:

The key to EPA’s defense will indeed be Obama’s personal commitment to and involvement in the defense.  To date, yes, the administration has been sending mixed messages at best on the environment — with its baffling March 31 decision (recently partially reversed) to open large parts of the US coast to offshore drilling (see EIA: New offshore drilling will lower gas prices in 2030 a few pennies a gallon), and, of course, its catastrophic failure to fight for a climate bill (see “The failed presidency of Barack Obama, Part 2“).

I hope Obama gets his act together on this critical topic and stands up with full force to the unfriendly Republicans in Congress looking to block any sort of movement to address the issues important to future human livability.

Photo Credits: DonkeyHotey; DonkeyHotey

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