January 22, 2007

Does Bush’s New Stance Have a Snowball’s Chance?

Snow at this time of the year is a beautiful and inspiring phenomenon of nature. Unless, like me, you live in the Valley of the Sun, where it is strange and a little scary. Yet, we were all very excited as the evening news showed a close up of a flake hitting the ground in Peoria in slow motion like a Super Bowl power play.

In fact, we got so excited about a snowflake making it in Phoenix, that we almost ignored another event that had a snowball’s chance in hell – President Bush’s readiness to publicly acknowledge global warming.

At one time political advisers agreed that hell would freeze over before the leader of the Republican Party admitted that maybe, just maybe, Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” was more than a showcase of the Democrat’s superiority in using a laser pointer.

The climate of hell is complicated (something to do with what ring you are in), but it did hail in Scottsdale, so close enough. The president is expected to address global warming in his State of the Union address this week.

While liberals everywhere are having a “Hah! Told you so!” moment, the possible implications of Bush’s sudden change in attitude are worth examining.

For one thing, the sheer shock value of the announcement is a good distraction from the other global crisis. If the president is more willing to admit that global climate change is underway, he grants that what liberal politicians and activists (not to mention scientists of all political persuasion) have been saying all along is right.

If, even after an embarrassing mid-term election, you’re willing to face the Congress, your constituents and the world and concede that your opposition is correct, you must be pretty desperate.

By taking interest in global warming, the GOP is shifting the emphasis from the immediate future and placing it on long-term goals, thus buying time. It will be years before any of the discussion ever turns into plans and years after that to implement any of them.

Yet no one will be able to say that they’re not doing anything, the lengthy duration is just a part of the intricate process after all.

More importantly, this may be an attempt of the Republican Party to take away the Democrats’ monopoly on the subject, depriving the left wing of one of its most powerful trump cards.

If the Republicans unveil any tentative plans that address global warming, they will undoubtedly be business friendly. The Democrats have worked hard to convince corporations to willingly employ environmentally friendly methods.

The GOP has watched and learned from the successes and mistakes of the left. When they unveil their plans for dealing with global warming, they are sure to be designed to take the money and influence of business with them.

While surprising, this change in direction from the Bush administration is the calm before the storm. If the Democrats don’t play their cards right, the forecast for both the environment and the next elections looks rather gloomy.

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