Feel the balance of power shifting in the American energy debate? Bye bye MIchigan, hello California: The House Democrats have finally cleared some old spare parts out of the way in anticipation of President Obama's agenda. Henry Waxman, a reliably progressive and sometimes pleasingly combative liberal from California has deposed John Dingell of Michigan at the helm of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The Committee will play a major role in several key issues on Obama's to-do list: climate change, alternative energy development, retooling the American auto industry, and health care reform.
Rep. Dingell's three-decade reign has been characterized by his reliable support for the backward-looking lobbying efforts of the very auto industry giants who jetted in to DC with their hands out yesterday. It's not a stretch to say that the Big 3's woes, and their woeful appearance yesterday seeking a taxpayer handout, may have loomed large in Democrats' decision today to consign Dingell to the junkyard.
Waxman's work on the House Homeland Security Committee stands in stark contrast to stuffed-shirt Joe Lieberman's snoozy tenure on the Senate side. Waxman has aggressively gone after the Bush administration, while Joe the Senator has been running out the clock. With Waxman in place, several key aspects of Obama's agenda look to sail a little more smoothly (one wonders if the hand of Rahm Emanuel might not be at work behind the scenes on this).
Hello Waxman!!! One of the only Dems in the House whose bite is as big as his bite.
Now, lets get rid of some more of those other backward thinking members of the Senate and the House.
Rangel: Pelosi Played Role in Dingell's Defeat
@ 11:21 am by Hill Staff
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of having a role in Thursday's defeat of Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) for control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
"I assume that not playing a role is playing a role," Rangel, Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, told the Washington Post after the Democratic Caucus voted to oust Dingell.
"It's just been buried," Rangel said of the long-standing principle of seniority for Democratic leadership in the House. Rangel had backed Dingell's bid to retain his chairmanship.
listen the old school way of doin' things is on the way out. this is change i can believe in and apparently you don't.
the guy was in the hip pockets of detroit and enabling them to be do nothing welfare queens.
the asians have been cleaning our clocks for decades now.
remember when Hyundai was just a oversized roller skate? toyota was a simple foreign import? honda was more famous for cycles than cars?
imagine what could have been produced with the same energy used to fight progress.
and another thingseniority is in the handsof the voter in the end your job is not to see how long you can stay in office, its to nake the office effective.
good riddance.
"So, in the short term, we're going to be disappointed," he said. "They may turn out to be all pro-war, or at least people who were pro-war in the beginning."
2. Since you brought it up: I hate war as much as Kevin Martin, and certainly have always opposed the Iraq war. But like Obama, I also think the Taliban and al Qaeda need to be deligitimized, disarmed, and destroyed as a force in the world. Would you walk away from Afghanistan in the name of peace? Because there won't be any peace in the lives of the girls and women who seek an education, or anyone who won't comply with the Taliban's fundamentalist extremism. These are the folks who killed young girls for going against the Qaran by attending school. If there ever was a deserving target of violence, t's the Taliban. And the Taliban will be happy to host al Qaeda ops with their peaceful blend of 15th century religion and 21st century post-treaty black market nuclear adventurism. So I'm not sure what type of peace you're advocating, but if it involves pretending that armed force isn't part of the needed mix in Afghanistan, I have to part ways with you.
Oh, I see......
All Waxman ever does is get people to promise to be better, which they never do.