Beware of People With Agendas

Last week a major world leader outlined a series of policy steps to stop the increase in the emissions of greenhouse gases in his country and then to reduce those emissions.  He suggested a timetable for doing so, and proposed the adoption of incentives, subsidies and requirements to increase renewable fuels, implement greater energy efficiency, generate more renewable electricity, develop carbon-free energy from coal, and foster nuclear power development.  One would think that his policy proposals would be the subject of serious consideration and substantive discussion, if not outright agreement in some quarters.  But, for the most part, the reaction has consisted of scoffing, derision and dismissal.  The problem, of course, is that the world leader in question was George W. Bush, and the messenger very much got in the way of the message he delivered in his speech in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, April 16, 2008.  The reactions to the President’s remarks say more about the state of climate change policy than does the speech itself and provide an instructive glimpse into the multi-layered agendas of the stakeholders in the climate change policy arena.