Today, a great big BOO to Obama for picking rancher Ken Salazar to run the Department of Interior. Salazar has accepted.
Salazar is a completely uninspiring choice, and shows that environmentalists really are going to have to work, work, work. This conservative Democrat, who famously supported Alberto Gonzalez and other various Bush ephemera, has worked against ESA listings for a variety of species in Colorado, has voted for off-shore drilling, has voted for a terrible Energy bill, supported guns in national parks, voted against considering global warming for Army Corps water projects, voted against Farm conservation initiatives, and more.
But perhaps worse about the Salazar pick is what it reveals. Why is it that Democrats continually (continuously?) appoint "compromisers" to such vital positions? Here we've had 8 years of unwavering assaults on the environment, and now we get a Colorado rancher with spotty green credentials. (And please don't quote LCV voters at me... we've had 3 years of Salazar votes, under a GOP administration... hardly a good baseline (and just look at his Colorado activities!))
Why must Dems always play the compromise and fence-straddling and bipartisan and working together angle on the environment? Why NOT appoint someone like Raul Grijalva or another conservation minded person to Interior? Why must we always appoint idiots like Salazar... ranchers, or farmers, or industry folks.
And, today, too, a great big BOO to the Sierra Club and other national organizations. Your silence on this matter was deafening. Where were you? What happened?
Why did it take 100+ small regional green groups to push for Grijalva? Why didn't you sign on? For years we've heard you harp and complain about Bush and Kempthorpe and Gale Norton. NOW, when you actually have the chance to INFLUENCE and change and get someone GOOD at Interior, you are completely silent. Well, good job, Sierra Club. Hope you're happy.