An environmentalist's dream might be a businessman's nightmare. But when it came to describing the the environmental team Pres.-elect Obama has assembled, it was sugar plum fairies for GMA this morning. Rachel Martin, who came to ABC from NPR, narrated the segment.
RACHEL MARTIN: They are calling it the "Green Dream Team."
Which invites the obvious question: who's "they," kimosabe? Running down the team line-up, Martin viewed things from an environmentalist perspective.Martin reported that Pres.-elect Obama is expected to name Carol Browner as the first White House energy "czar," to appoint Lisa Jackson as head of EPA, and to nominate Nobel-laureate Steven Chu as energy secretary.
So who are these folks?
- As NewsBuster Paul Detrick has noted, one business commentator finds Carol Browner "scary" for the radical solutions she favors.
- Lisa Jackson was NJ Gov. Jon Corzine's former Commissioner of Environmental Protection. Her most notable action in her Wikipedia entry: "Jackson led compliance sweeps in Camden and Paterson . . . following multicultural outreach efforts to inform and involve community residents and businesses." Not just an environmentalist: a multiculturalist!
- As for Chu, Martin touted the fact that he is "widely respected by environmental groups for his proposals to aggressively tackle climate change." Great. I'm sure New Orleans would appreciate some help digging out of the snow.
Martin then rolled a clip of the president of an environmental group, who gave the team a big green thumbs-up. So what did the head of the business group have to say about the appointments? Come on, I said this was GMA: no such representative appeared. The only allusion to business interests was when Martin described Obama's environmental goals as "lofty," then wondered whether he would have "support from business leaders to pursue his energy initiatives in the current financial crisis." Translation: will those mean-spirited businessmen stand in the way of the green team's dreams?
But wait a second: just before that, Martin had rolled a clip of Obama saying he would "launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy efficient" and that this would "save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year." So if just this one initiative would save billions a year, surely the entire Green Dream Team agenda would save bazillions. Why should the financial crisis be a reason not to proceed full geo-thermal steam ahead . . . unless going green isn't the cost saver it's cracked up to be?
