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Opinion
Nov. 24, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: 'Change' coming to Washington

Grandstanding Waxman gets more power

Indications multiply that those who hoped Barack Obama and the resurgent Democratic Party would calm down and govern "to the center" are about to face a rude awakening.

On the campaign trail, candidate Obama -- whose legislative record showed him to be an ardent backer of gun control -- toned down his hoplophobia, vowing in soothing tones that he would "not take away" Americans' firearms. Yet his just-announced choice for attorney general, Eric Holder, earlier this year signed an amicus brief in the court case District of Columbia vs. Heller, supporting the District's ban on the use of any firearm for self-defense in the home -- as Barack Obama himself supported that patently unconstitutional measure.

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    • As deputy attorney general, the gun-rights stances of Mr. Holder made Janet Reno look like Annie Oakley.

    The man now tapped to become our next attorney general advocated federal licensing of American handgun owners, a three-day waiting period on handgun sales, and rationing handgun sales to no more than one per month -- for starters.

    Not to be outdone in this race to the radical left, congressional Democrats responded in kind Thursday, dumping Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and replacing him with Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Beverly Hills and West Hollywood.

    The secret ballot among members of the Democratic caucus -- the kind of ballot congressional Democrats hope to soon take away from American workers threatened with unionization -- swung 137-122 to depart from the chamber's usual seniority system.

    Rep. Dingell, 82, is hardly a free-market zealot. Nonetheless, he represents greater Detroit and is seen as a champion of the auto business. Skeptical of massive steps to cripple the economy in pursuit of the chimera of "global warming," he has slowed or blocked action on stricter vehicle emissions standards, fuel-economy improvements and other initiatives to accelerate the "green" destruction of the domestic auto industry.

    Rep. Waxman, on the other hand, represents not constituents who manufacture a product made of steel, but rather a town that manufactures dreams.

    And it shows.

    "Whether you agree with him or not, Chairman Dingell has long been respected as an insightful, reasonable and pragmatic legislator," said Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-business research group. "These are not qualities for which Mr. Waxman is known."

    Mr. Pyle said that Rep. Waxman probably would bring "sweeping changes" to the committee's focus, "which isn't good news if you're in the business of American energy or other kinds of free-market commerce."

    By contrast, environmentalists hailed Rep. Waxman's promotion.

    "It's a whole new day for the environment," cheers Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an environmental advocacy group. "The committee through which all major environmental legislation has to pass has gone from someone hostile to environmental protection to a real champion."

    Rep. Waxman's selection "will put him at the center of efforts to advance President-elect Barack Obama's proposals to curb global warming, develop alternative fuels and expand health insurance coverage," his hometown Los Angeles Times enthused on Friday.

    Rep. Waxman will not maintain a low profile -- he never has. Even when his bailiwick was limited to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he did not hesitate to bask in the camera lights as he hauled everyone from hedge-fund managers to steroid-using baseball players to former spy Valerie Plame through his committee room to testify at high-profile hearings.

    "Waxman's election suggests that Congress will tackle climate-change legislation next year," the L.A. Times noted. "Waxman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate committee on the environment, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have called for tough new limits on emissions from power plants, factories and other pollution sources."

    By "pollution," of course, the Times refers primarily to the non-toxic gas carbon dioxide -- the stuff Rep. Waxman and his constituents produce when they exhale.

    Because the new state religion of Environmentalism says we must stop burning coal, oil, and natural gas -- never mind the effect on our economy -- lest we all end up frying like bacon on a griddle.

    Think those edicts in which our regal rulers wave their magic wands and declare what percentage of our power "must" be generated by windmills and solar panels were already a bit presumptuous?

    Think your energy bills were already a tad high?

    Hold on, folks. You voted for "change." And you ain't seen nothin' yet.

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    qwerty wrote on November 25, 2008 11:58 AM: GOP lost, the final version passed in november 1999 90-8-1 in the Senate and 362-57-15 in the House. Joe Biden voted for deregulation.

    Ron Paul opposed this:
    http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec99/cr110899-glb.htm


    Steve wrote on November 24, 2008 08:44 PM: Don,

    Neither does your ignorance. Put down the propaganda from the DNC and check for the facts. Robert Rubin was the force behind deregulation of the banks, brokerages, and insurance companies. Sometimes the truth hurts; but it's still the truth.


    Don wrote on November 24, 2008 06:46 PM: Your denial does not change the facts Steve!


    Steve wrote on November 24, 2008 04:56 PM: To GOP Lost and Party of Whiners,

    Are you both so ignorant you can't see that's a quote...ROBERT RUBIN deregulated the financial industry. Even people as uneducated as you 2 should be able to understand it had absolutely nothing, zero, nill, nada to do with the Republican party. It was Robert Rubin with Bill Clinton as president who STARTED AND DID THE MOST TO DEREGULATE. You prove yourselves completely incompetent with each idiotic post you make.


    Steve wrote on November 24, 2008 04:55 PM: To GOP Lost and Party of Whiners,



    Are you both so ignorant you can't see that's a quote...ROBERT RUBIN deregulated the financial industry. Even people as uneducated as you 2 should be able to understand it had absolutely nothing, zero, nill, nada to do with the Republican party. It was Robert Rubin with Bill Clinton as president who STARTED AND DID THE MOST TO DEREGULATE. You prove yourselves completely incompetent with each idiotic post you make. MORONS!


    Steve wrote on November 24, 2008 04:55 PM: To GOP Lost and Party of Whiners,

    Are you both so ignorant you can't see that's a quote...ROBERT RUBIN deregulated the financial industry. Even people as uneducated as you 2 should be able to understand it had absolutely nothing, zero, nill, nada to do with the Republican party. It was Robert Rubin with Bill Clinton as president who STARTED AND DID THE MOST TO DEREGULATE. You prove yourselves completely incompetent with each idiotic post you make. MORONS!


    Sad Summerlin wrote on November 24, 2008 03:55 PM: For a mass group of people who have won an historic election promising sweeping change, there is a lot of bile and hate in your comments below. For all the people that complain about the GOP supporters being sore losers, perhaps you forgot that winning with dignity is equally as important.

    As to this pathetic attempt at an editorial.

    Come on guys... there's plenty of real things to talk about other than these what-if doomsday scenarios that may or may not exist.

    I was hoping based off the title that this would be an editorial about how Obama's cabinet has more Washington insiders than Bush or Clinton. Sure the Waxman change is interesting for Energy and Commerce, but again... I say we let these folks prove us wrong and do something good for the country... if not, then we attack things they actually do.

    Why are you not taking these pages to discuss the real issues that are happening TODAY... not what might happen after January 20th?


    GOP lost wrote on November 24, 2008 02:05 PM: Steve,

    You are aware that it was Gramm that wrote those 2 peices of legislation that helped bring this mess about, right? He went to USB.

    party of whiners has it right....you should "google" the legislation mentioned and learn that Reid and most Democrats voted against it and Ensign and all the Republicans voted for it.


    Party of Whiners wrote on November 24, 2008 01:20 PM: Steve, you should save some of your sore loser, belly aching until Obama actually becomes president.

    As for the introduction of derivatives into finanacial markets, it was Phil Gramm (nation of whiners fame), John McCain's top finacial advisor, who was responsible for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act which effectively put the posionous credit default swaps (derivitaves) into our economic system.

    In other words, your incompetent right-wing party of small/inefficient government with a large dose of loose or nonexistent regulations has pushed the world to the edge of another Great Depression.

    Thanks for your help.


    Steve wrote on November 24, 2008 12:33 PM: Exactly what "change" has Obama produced so far? He's appointed Washington insiders (all former Clinton aides/office holders/spouses). 1 step forward and 2 steps backward. Isn't it interesting that most of his choices are tied to Rubin who went to Citi Bank (which we are now bailing out) and who pushed for the deregulation of the financial industry (that's right...NOT a Republican as all of you liars claim)? "Instead of deregulation, Obama has sworn to usher in a period of re-regulation, to avoid the freewheeling risks that Citigroup and the rest of the financial industry undertook after Rubin, with Summers, helped tear down the regulatory walls between banks, brokerages and insurance companies, and freed them to trade in unregulated and little-understood derivatives worth trillions of dollars." Morons!


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