The Hands That Rock the White House (4/26/02)
by Dean Hartwell
Bill Clinton often
said that the only job in the United States that represented all of the people
was the presidency. However, a memo recently released shows that Clinton may be
wrong.
During his presidential campaign, George W. Bush promised an energy policy that
would reduce carbon dioxides. A few months after he became the president, he
changed his mind and abandoned the plan.
Why did President Bush change his mind?
He says that the intensity of the energy crisis caused him to back off. It
sounds like a plausible explanation, given the problems California and other
states had at the time he became the president.
But the memo tells a different story.
Recently, several citizen "watchdog" organizations sued the Bush
Administration under the Freedom of Information Act to compel the White House
to reveal whom the President has talked to about policies (See Archives -
"Public Is Redacted 3/25/02"). A federal court ordered several
departments, including the Commerce Department, to release documents.
One of the documents was a memo written by Haley Barbour to President Bush and
several of his advisors. Barbour warned the Bush Administration not to
"let environmental policies dictate energy policies" like the Clinton
Administration had and that reductions in carbon dioxide would
"exacerbate" the energy problem.
Was it just another letter from a concerned citizen? Hardly. Barbour is a
lobbyist who represents several companies that contributed large sums of money
to the Bush campaign in 2000.
Right after the time the memo arrived, Bush withdrew mention of the plan for
reductions from his speech to a joint session of Congress.
Changing one's mind is not a sign of a lack of leadership. Every president has
changed his mind about a policy at one time or another. It is the reason why
that matters. This incident shows that Bush is willing to forgo representing
all of the people and listen to those who represent him.