Gore Calls on Bush to Follow in Reagan's Footsteps
by David Sassoon - Sep 26th, 2007
At the Clinton Global Initiative today, Al Gore called on President Bush to follow in the environmental footsteps of Ronald Reagan. It was a low blow. Remember Reagan's Interior Secretary was the infamous James Watt. But Gore's point was relevant. It was on Reagan's watch that the hole in the ozone layer was discovered over the Antarctic. Rather than listen to Watt who advocated voluntary measures, Reagan got behind the binding agreement -- the Montreal Protocol -- that is now solving ozone.
Here's how Gore told it:
The Secretary of the Interior at that time said that voluntary measures like wearing sunglasses and floppy hats was the answer. Some of you remember that.
But Secretary of State George Schultz and others convinced the President to take the lead, that it wasn't an ideological issue, and Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill joined hands and listened to the scientists and did not censor them, and the world in 1987 got a treaty that is putting us well on the path of solving that crisis.
I would like to call on President Bush to follow President Reagan's example and listen to those among his advisors who know that we have to have binding reductions in CO2, we have to put a price on carbon, and that the United States of America has to lead the world to solve the climate crisis.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Post new comment