A coal 'dog and pony show'

Labor Sec. Hilda Solis in W.Va. (0.00 / 0)

I kept meaning to blog about this visit, but didn't have much to say. Upon reflection, here's a few thoughts.

- Obama has always been pro-coal. We've known this since Obama ran for Senate. Obama was the Senate Dem. caucus chair for coal-to-liquid fuels (CTL). He campaigned on a "clean coal" platform from the beginning. (Remember what Al Gore called "'A horrible mistake'"?) He was more pro-CTL than McCain! But, since he's a Dem., it's really hard for the administration to get that message heard. (There's also the paradox that the administration does indeed believe in science-based policy and that has to be a major worry for friends of coal.)

- During much of the Presidential campaign, and during much of the Bush 2nd term, candidates/Bush turned to local media to get favorable coverage. It's ironic that this visit is using the WSJ to make sure it gets the coverage it is looking for. The Obama administration has to be happy with the WSJ articles. The local WV Public Broadcasting headline was nice for them, too... something like, "Obama administration listens to coal miners."

- Unless I'm forgetting someone obvious, this is the highest profile Obama administration visit so far. (The Sec. of Education visit to the Eastern Panhandle didn't warrant the Gov. or a Rep. attending.) What does the choice of cabinet secretary, venue, location, and attendees say? Labor, including UMWA, where big Obama supporters in '08. Rep. Rahall was a big supporter. Despite his fence-sitting and campaigning with Clinton in the primaries, Gov. Manchin did everything he could to help out Obama in the general. This is a nice payback for UMWA, Rahall and Manchin.

What I'd really like to have happen is for Obama to come back and announce new green jobs in the coal fields. They're putting a whole bunch of electric vehicle money into the rust belt. Do we have to reach almost 20% unemployment before we get that kind of attention?

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by: Clem Guttata @ Thu Aug 06, 2009 at 14:08:59 PM UTC