[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.}
I am loathe to post this morning, pushing Mary’s graph and the news of Dr. Steven Chu down the file, but such is the march of time and blogtopia. Not only am I immensely proud of California and its path of electricity conservation (Cheney you, California carbon footprint) but part of me is doing constant cartwheeling Snoopy dances at the knowledge of Dr. Chu heading Energy.
Far better scientists and accomplished academics than I have decried the anti-intellectualism and anti-science stance of the Bush Administration on a very consistent basis, so I have basically left this travesty alone, but if we are to get anywhere as a country this century an ironclad funding and faith in acknowledging the results of proper science is critical. Thank you, President-elect Obama, words do no justice to the accomplishment of choice for Energy here.
It’s also extremely good news Al Gore got invited in for a pow-wow, eliciting more mental Steve Martin boogies that the message of conservation and climate change is truly held by the national leadership. My faith is going to last a long time on the image of Al Gore sitting with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, I hope you know how much that means to me, President-elect Obama, the text characters for "thank you" are so inadequate for my profound gratitude on this.
A jaundiced and wary eye is still cast toward DC, however, for ideas and words are very nice and extremely necessary, yes, but real leadership, deeds and legislation are another matter. We shall see.
Not all appointments—Gates—thrill me that much, and there is still much to learn where the direction and shape of Intelligence and Agriculture will go. What really tempers my joy at possible change, however, is the respect I have for energy lobby power and the big business lobby in general in Washington, DC. Optimal solutions in Energy and Agriculture will have to rely on the Small Business Administration and the little people in a massive scope that just can’t be produced overnight.
I need solar and wind turbine installation at my house, the windows and insulation are already done, but there isn’t a minority/immigrant-owned small business using precise regulations from the SBA (they have to use them as part of the breaks they get to start the business) to do the job. I’m not down or bitching that we’ll never reach this goal, but Dr. Chu really has his work cut out for him, that’s a massive scale of change to instantly demand out of DC and the energy lobby.
The Foodies, as they call themselves, are eagerly awaiting who will be appointed to Agriculture, their ultimate end goal of locally produced food means a lot of small farmers and little people, a lot more small businesses that would have to be encouraged to spring up against an extremely entrenched Agriculture lobby.
The Director of the Small Business Administration is appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, who will be Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico and former ambassador to the United Nations. Will that person be some little people small business populist, heralding in great waves of change in Energy and Agriculture?
For climate change that employs our people and food production that really shepherd’s the Earth that would be the optimal path. I guess I’m getting too old to expect or demand that will happen, I can only wish so and hope for the best. We’ll see what happens, and much of the transition appointment news has been extremely good so far.