To the health of the planet
The departing head of the EPA attended to science more than politics. The president, his second term secure, should follow suit in replacing her.
Lisa Jackson will leave her job as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency having done a lot to protect the environment and public health. But not as much as she set out to do or as much as President Obama pledged to do at the start of his first term — particularly, to address climate change.
The faltering economy and political push-back prompted a change of course by the president, who reined in his EPA chief as he headed into a bitterly fought re-election campaign. And he abandoned early on an ambitious legislative attempt to limit industrial greenhouse gas emissions after a House cap-and-trade bill went down in ignominious defeat in the Senate.
January 2, 2013 - 9:27 AM
Not to mention that a `phantom` e-mail address had been associated with Ms. Jackson. The current administration is steeped in corruption. When your policies are enough to scare even the `left`, you `deal in the dark`.
Any EPA administrator would have had a tough go of it in the economic mess we’re in. Still, Lisa Jackson was a poor choice from the start. Even her supporters–as this opinion piece suggests–agree that building consensus was not one of her strong suits. Of course, this begs the question, “Then why put someone like this in the administrator’s chair at all?” This is an entirely different topic.
All of that aside though, her continued presence at the EPA would no doubt grow into a serious political liability because of her insistence on conducting so much official correspondence under the covers. Disagreement over policy is one thing; deliberate efforts to conceal public policy discussions is much more serious. She brought this on herself, and in doing so, only further exposed the Obama administration for its predilection for secrecy.
Once again, so much for the promises of post-partisanship and transparency so often claimed in 2008. Hmmm. Maybe Obama and his fellow conspirators are just politicians unlike so many others who have come before. Maybe the emperor really has no clothes, after all. Just maybe.
Being head of the EPA should not be a seat held by a “consensus builder” (whatever anyone means by such a title). It should also not be held by a political operative anxious to gain political points. It is a tough, thankless job, but someone has to do it.
Thanks for once again pointing out how often this “Leftist”, “Socialist”, “Marxist”, “Imperial”, “Dictator”, “other” President has caved to the deniers and extreme voices on the right.
There is no one who would not “grow into a serious political liability” in this job. Not if they are doing it right.
I love how we are now concerned with off site emails, who is in meetings, and have discovered that deficits finally matter. Even if it is only temporary.