There is no reliable evidence, but tradition has it that when General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown the British band played the ballad, "The World Turned Upside Down."
There is no British band within earshot, but barely one week into his term, President Obama is continuing to turn upside down the world made by former President George W. Bush
Obama announced today that he is directing the Environmental Protection Agency to review a decision by the Bush administration to deny California's request for a waiver to regulate motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.
Bush's decision was decried by the environmental community, California and more than a dozen other states intending to follow California's lead. The administration was castigated for its refusal to take steps - or to allow the individual states to take meaningful measures - to combat global warming.
The auto industry, which would have had to significantly expand production of more fuel efficient vehicles that would produce lower greenhouse gas emissions, applauded the Bush administration's decision. The industry had less to cheer about when it lost several legal challenges to proposed state regulations, but at least it could cling to the Bush administration's refusal to allow the states to proceed.
Not so with the Obama administration. Obama did not direct the EPA to grant the waiver, which would have short-circuited the required agency review process and probably would not withstand judicial scrutiny. But the agency is widely expected to grant the waiver.
The World Turned Upside Down (2): Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also today, announced the appointment of Todd Stern as special envoy and principal advisor on international climate policy and strategy. Stern coordinated the Clinton administration's overall efforts on climate change and was senior White House representative at United Nations climate negotiations in Kyoto and Buenos Aires.
In his remarks, Stern said, "A new day is dawning in the US approach to climate change and clean energy. The time for denial, delay and dispute is over." Stern said it was a privilege to work for Clinton and former Vice-President Al Gore, "great and inspiring leaders."
The State Department's special envoy to United Nations climate talks and senior negotiator for the Bush administration was Harlan Watson. Watson recently joined the minority staff of the House Special Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming,. The ranking member of the committee and Watson's boss, Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Republican-Wisconsin, is opposed to mandatory controls on GHG emissionsand the cap-and-trade programs favored by the Obama administration.
On climate and global warming issues, Watson clearly does not look to Al Gore for inspiration.
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