Like I said, Clinton's relative effectiveness on issues is up for debate. My biggest criticism of that administration is that they ceded a lot of ground (i.e. letting republican senators provide judicial nominations) and getting bogged down in stupid side issues. I blame much of this on the inexperience and optimism that many of the staffers brought to Washington. You can see this in the severe whomping they got over health care towards the beginning. Republican were particularly effective in exploiting their mistakes.
Still, if Bush succeeds, he will have accomplished more on that point. He does have a better legislative situation, so I imagine he will. Regardless, a small increase in CAFE standards is still not going to turn Bush into an environmentalist. It's not like authorizing a military strike in Iran made Carter a hawk. Or me pouring a cup of water on a fire makes me a firefighter. But enough rhetoric. This symbolic gesture is better than no CAFE increase, but does not address the problems with CAFE. If he wanted to be bold, he could advocating replacing CAFE with a more open, market-based alternative (as you suggested). Or he could just try to address the end run that SUVs make around the spirit of the regulation. I imagine that the Clinton administration's goals changed drastically after the republican legislative gains. I imagine that serious CAFE increases were shelved when they realized they'd have to deal with a hostile congress. They couldn't even count on several democrats to vote for CAFE increases. Mark -----Original Message----- From: John D. Giorgis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:58 PM To: Mark C. Brighton Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Bush vs. Clinton on CAFE At 04:58 PM 2/5/2003 -0800, Mark C. Brighton wrote: >C'mon, "imposed by the Clinton administration"? As if he ruled by fiat. >CAFE is part of the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). >Only congress has the power to change it. Still, if Bush succeeds in his proposal, he will have done more to raise the CAFE in three years than Clinton managed in eight. If nothing else, it would make a lot of this hysteria from environmentalists about the Bush Administration being "at war with the Earth" to look even sillier than it already does. Still, it would be interesting to see what CAFE standards Clinton seriously proposed once he was in office - as opposed to on the campaign trail trying to unseat an incumbent. JDG _______________________________________________________ John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
