Democrats to Obama: “Drop cap and trade”

  This could be the best news to come out of Washington DC since Barack Obama became the president; at least six Senate Democrats are urging the president to drop cap and trade from his legislative agenda… at least until after the 2010 election.

  All of these Democrats who are urging the president to delay action on global warming are doing so not because they don’t believe in the cause– they do– but because they don’t think that it is a good idea to pass this legislation in such a bad economy. I find this to be very interesting because these Democrats appear to be agreeing with what the Republicans have been saying all along– that cap and trade will further hurt the economy. The president and the Democrats have been claiming  just the opposite would be the case. They have been claiming that cap and trade legislation would open up all sorts of new job opportunities in a new “green” marketplace. Remember how we were told that all of these new “green” jobs would be created?

  If the Democrats were telling us the truth about the job creation possibilities that would open up under cap and trade, why would they attempt to jettison the cap and trade legislation because of the economy that so desperately needs the  additional jobs that cap and trade was supposed to provide? The answer is painfully obvious– they were lying! The truth is that the economy would get even weaker after cap and trade, with all of its new taxes, is passed and Democrats know this.

  But the economy isn’t the real reason that the Democrats want to delay this legislation.

  Democrats have also been telling us for quite some time that we can afford to delay no longer on the issue of global warming, we have been told that we have reached a tipping point and that we must act immediately or we will never be able to stop the world from being destroyed by man’s actions. Suddenly Democrats feel that it is okay to push the cap and trade legislation back one year, what about the impending crisis? I thought that immediate action was needed, wouldn’t pushing the legislation back delay the issue until the environmental damage is unrepairable? That is what they have been telling us.

  Don’t be fooled, the Democrats are not afraid that the environment will suffer catastrophic consequences if their actions are delayed– the have only been fear mongering on this issue to push forward a political issue, that much is clear– and Democrats are not urging this delay because of the economy– the same economy they promised this legislation would help– they are doing it because of next year’s midterm election.

  Suddenly when faced with tough reelection prospects these same Democrats are willing to punt this issue into next year, not in hopes that the economy will be better next year, but because it will be  after the elections, conveniently. It seems their reelection prospects are more important to them than the prospects of saving the world and the economy– the two goals of this legislation, or at least the stated goals of the legislation.

  This news does not mean that we can rest easily on this issue, while there are many Democrats who may be in trouble during the midterm elections and while they are asking the president to delay this important piece of his domestic agenda, that doesn’t mean he will listen to them. The notion that there could be many Democrats in trouble in the midterm elections could actually have the opposite effect on the president’s thinking. He may decide to push the cap and trade legislation even harder.

  We have seen the president push hard and fast on every piece of legislation he has proposed– he hasn’t accomplished anything yet, but he has pushed hard. He wants everything done and done now! And cap and trade will probably be no different. Realizing that he could lose his majority in one or possibly both houses, the president may decide to push for cap and trade while he still has the majority. To wait until after the 2010 elections would kill any chance of this legislation ever passing if Republicans can manage to gain a majority in either house.

  The president does not care about the Democrats in congress personally, he cares only about their vote, and his agenda. He would gladly sacrifice their seats in congress in order to get their votes on as many issues as he can before the 2010 election.

  Regardless of whether or not the president takes the advice of these six Democrats, the request by these six Democrats has shown us the truth; cap and trade is not only not good for the economy it is harmful to the economy, cap and trade is not a measure that has to be passed immediately to save the world or Democrats would be willing to lose their seats in order to save the world, cap and trade amounts to nothing more than a national energy tax that will be forced upon all Americans, Democrats have been lying about the impact of man on the environment, and Republicans have been right about these issues all along. 

  No wonder they want to wait until after the election.