by Mark Silva
The man who has won the White House will meet today with the man who fell 537 votes of winning the White House, yet a man who shares a Nobel Prize for his work on climate control. One is hot, hot hot at the moment, the other intent on averting global warming.
President-elect Barack Obama's meeting in Chicago today with former Vice President Al Gore comes in a week of expected announcements of the next elements of Obama's leadership team. He has announced the economic team, and the national security team. Now comes the green team.
Watch for Energy and Interior secretaries this week, and perhaps a new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Dont watch for Gore in the lineup, though.
Gore, who is on his way this week to Poland to meet with delegates from 190 countries debating a new global climate-change treaty, has said that he can probably be more effective as an advocate for the environment as a private citizen. He will meet today with Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden to discuss energy and climate change and how to make policies on those fronts tools for improving the economy.
The massive public works program that Obama will propose -- seeking 2.5 million new jobs over the next couple of years -- will include projects that make Americans more energy efficient in the process of employing people: Installing meters that provide an accurate and current reading on energy consumption and savings, installing new insulation and roofs. The three plan to issue a statement after their meeting.
Think of it as a few former senators sitting around brainstorming. Think anyone might talk about the Sunshine State in the process, the place where Gore fell just a few hundred votes shy of becoming the 43rd president and where Obama racked up a 2.5 percentage point lead in the amassing of the electoral mandate that made him the 44th?
Not likely.
The talk at the transition team's table today is more likely to turn toward glacial melting than electoral landslides. And this is a remarkable discussion, near the end of an administration that rode that disputed Florida election in 2000 to victory and took the better part of eight years to acknowledge that man might have something to do with global warming. It' may be a Red, White and Blue Christmas at the Bush White House this season, but Obama will soon be painting the place green.
(Photo of Al Gore, 2007 Noble Peace Prize Laureate , receiving an honorary doctorate at Waseda University in Tokyo in November, by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)
Comments
Greening the WH and climate control...I thought they had their own florist/greenhouse and don't they have any thermostats in the place?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | December 9, 2008 7:31 AM
I remember when Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the roof of the white house and tried to put policies into effect that would have removed our dependence on foreign oil. Of course when Ronnie Ray-Gun came into office he removed the solar panels and started the mass sellout to the oil and other corporate interest. Maybe now we can finally take our country back.
PS: Look for the name "Carol Browner" to come up when the "Green Team" is presented.
Posted by: Larry-T | December 9, 2008 8:25 AM
This is great for this country and great for our world. We needed to start this 10 perhaps 20 years ago.
Posted by: Alfonso | December 9, 2008 8:31 AM
Let's hope the Trib reports how Eco Al arrives in Chicago. I'm sure it will be in a private jet that spews his carbon credits into Lake Michigan.
Posted by: castra regina | December 9, 2008 8:44 AM
Yes, Alfonso, the USA is a very late commer to this party. Germany is so far ahead in the green department, we will be looking at their LED tailights for many decades to come. Thanks again pugs....another blunder to add to your long list of things you thought you knew. I hope Al and Obama are talking about Hydroelectricity in a serious manner, as that is the cleanest way to make electricity, and we can thank our forefathers for their knowledge. They are all rolling over in their graves looking at how stupid we have become.
Posted by: Xcellentform | December 9, 2008 9:00 AM
The IPCC haven't yet found a spot on the Earth that they don't like. They fly over a thousand delegates and hangers-on around the planet to discuss this stuff. So now it's Poland. Recently, it's been Japan, South Africa, Indonesia and Australia.
No emission worries there of course. What a joke these people are.
Posted by: Boris the Spider | December 9, 2008 9:12 AM
How can Gore not be the climate czar in Obama's White House? These meetings generally end with a job offer, so I expect Gore-acle to be holding some important post by the end of the week.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | December 9, 2008 9:17 AM
How fitting---Bankrupt newspaper reports on bankrupt enviro-nut policy.
Posted by: Bruce | December 9, 2008 9:38 AM
Let's hope the Trib reports how Eco Al arrives in Chicago. I'm sure it will be in a private jet that spews his carbon credits into Lake Michigan.
Posted by: castra regina | December 9, 2008 8:44 AM
Sorry to burst your conspiracy fruit cake theory Castra but Mr Gore always flies commuter airlines! Well know fact.
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | December 9, 2008 9:51 AM
Al Gore must become a vegetarian to bolster his environmental credentials. The beef, pork and poultry industries are responsible for massive pollution, global warming and myriad ecological problems.
Posted by: Brien Comerford | December 9, 2008 10:29 AM
What a better place to meet than in the most corrupt city in the most corrupt state in the country. Maybe Obama can sell the position to "I dont' use excessive energy' Gore just like his pal BLOGO.
Posted by: Politicians are a joke | December 9, 2008 10:44 AM
Where is the bailout for the Trib? This discrimination against no-collar newprint journalists is troubling. We could rename it "Pravda."
Posted by: Competition, what competition? | December 9, 2008 10:48 AM
The Obama White House will enforce large taxes on the masses due to this greening policy.
The American public will not sit still and allow this to happen. Obama, if he continues this process, will be a one term president.
When those in power start being role models (cutting back on their personal carbon footprint, by driving fuel efficient cars, living in smaller (less than Al's 10,000 square ft) homes, and stop flying over the world (ever hear of telecommunication, internet inventor, Al?), staying at home instead of flying a retinue of family and government officials to Hawaii, then that is when the people of this country will cutback.
Why should the people be penalized when their so called leaders do not demonstrate a lessening of their own footprint?
Be prepared for additional taxes on:
the amount of miles you drive your personal vehicle (Rhode Island),
the amount of energy leakage from your home,
the amount of water you use,
a "picnic tax" like France, on disposables,
and more to come.
The government will SQUEEZE every last dime out of Americans.
Get ready to vote in the next elections.
Posted by: Scotty | December 9, 2008 11:41 AM
But will they talk about ManBearPig?!? That's what the world really wants to know... that and whether Al will wear his cape.
Posted by: O-Bummer | December 9, 2008 12:47 PM
Hey Scotty!
Please try to get one thing right next time you smear:
Al Gore never said he invented the Internet. He did say that he had done things to help 'create' the Internet as we know it today. He has been a long-time advocate in promoting information technology. He sponsored important bills. You know - the kinda thing legislators sometimes do.
Vint Cerf - often called the father of the Internet - appreciated the fact that our pal Al kept up on information technology and the things it can do for us. Al also received a Lifetime Achievement Award for three decades of contributions to the Internet from the folks who dish out the Webby Awards. A not-too-shabby performance.
So if you really *must* scoff at Al, please find something real to scoff about.
Posted by: contrazz | December 9, 2008 4:29 PM
Scotty S Trust Fund Baby,
.
"Sorry to burst your conspiracy fruit cake theory Castra but Mr Gore always flies commuter airlines! Well know fact."
.
Really?
.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-09-gore-green_x.htm
Posted by: Terry | December 9, 2008 10:13 PM
3/21/07 WASHINGTON, DC – Former Vice President Al Gore refused to take a “Personal Energy Ethics Pledge” today to consume no more energy than the average American household. The pledge was presented to Gore by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, during today’s global warming hearing.
Senator Inhofe showed Gore a film frame from “An Inconvenient Truth” where it asks viewers: “Are you ready to change the way you live?”
Gore has been criticized for excessive home energy usage at his residence in Tennessee. His electricity usage is reportedly 20 times higher than the average American household.
Posted by: goredagain | December 9, 2008 10:33 PM
I'm glad to see that Inhofe has ttaken that poersonal energy pledge. Has anyone checked his energy usage in the past 18 months to see how he's doing?
Posted by: Lou | December 10, 2008 9:28 AM
Lou,
.
Inhofe isn't the one running around saying the the eartyh will end in 10 years (now 7). Gore is just another typical lib - "Do as I say, not as I do"
Posted by: Terry | December 10, 2008 8:03 PM