Good news for the planet
The planet earth scored another major political victory today when Henry Waxman (D-CA) won the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He wrested control from John Dingell (D-General Motors), who has been blocking any meaningful climate change legislation in the House because he thought it would be bad for the Big Three. Of course, we know how well that has worked out for them...
This is great. We know that Obama has said repeatedly that one of his top agenda items is going to be carbon emissions reduction. With Waxman at the head of the key committee in the House, Obama's job just got a heck of a lot easier.
There is no question, Obama is putting all the pieces in place for some major legislative accomplishments. All of the key people he is appointing to his staff are folks with deep understanding of how the legislative process works in Washington. With large majorities in the House and Senate, and some powerful allies on the relevant committees, the chess pieces are set. I feel fairly certain that he's going to get major health care reform and major global warming legislation passed within the first six months of his presidency. And that, my friends, is change we can believe in!
