By
Cory Spiller
Bush has done so little so far, and he is already making Clinton look so good. We have always known that Bush was a conservative Republican. The people that voted for him were aware of his oil industry background, and his desire to take away a woman's right to choose. However, Bush also claimed that he was going to bring together a deeply partisan Washington. Considering that he lost the popular vote, and does not have the backing of the majority of the people, we hoped that he would move a bit towards the center of the great political seesaw.
We were wrong.
Bush's cabinet nominations show no signs of compromise-he plans to tear down everything Clinton has done and rebuild our country with God and oil.
Bush and Cheney have both received calls from concerned members of the religious right indicating their wishes that the new attorney general be someone sympathetic to socially conservative positions. Gag! Dry heave, gag! They certainly found that nauseating characteristic in John Ashcroft. Former Attorney General, Senator, and two-term Governor of Missouri, Ashcroft seems like an excellent choice as the head of the Justice Department. That's if you were to ignore the fact that he accepted an honorary degree from the infamous Bob Jones University, the college which disapproves of interracial dating. Ashcroft successfully opposed the federal court appointment of Missouri's first black Supreme Court justice. This would be forgivable if he hadn't given interviews to "white supremacist" magazines, as the New York Times once reported.
Ashcroft is the messiah of the Christian right movement. During the 2000 election season, he accepted more money from religious organizations than any other senatorial candidate. Among the issues he has addressed most vehemently are abortion, the death penalty, gun control, homosexuality, prayer in schools, and the elimination of the National Endowment of the Arts. Ashcroft is a zealot that uses his public office to do God's handiwork, and apparently before assuming any public office he uses a bowl of Crisco oil to anoint himself.
In the waning months of the Clinton Administration, Clinton set aside millions of acres of our public land for protection. Recently he marked one-third of the national forest land untouchable. No roads, no logging, only recreation. Bush has nominated a Secretary of Interior that has the miners, loggers, and off-road enthusiasts popping Champagne and revving their engines. Gale Norton has environmentalists and conservationists shuddering in their Birkenstocks. Her hands-off philosophy of public land management would put environmental decision-making in the hands of the states, localities, and private corporations, which is completely absurd. The Department of the Interior has an obligation to protect land, habitat, and wildlife that have been historically abused by local business interests. The most likely reason that Bush nominated Norton is because she has been fighting to open Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration since she was a young lawyer in the Reagan administration.
The risks of opening Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling do not compare to the small amount of oil that could be pumped. A few months of oil would mean hardly anything to the American oil crisis; however, it would mean billions to oil companies. Bush and Cheney both made their fortunes in oil, they know far better than we the benefits their oil cronies will receive from drilling in Alaska. They know so much that they have nominated a puppet as the Secretary of Energy.
As recently as last year, Spencer Abraham was urging the abolishment of the Energy Department, which he is now nominated to lead. He is a one-term Senator from Michigan that received the lowest possible ranking by the Sierra Club. Bush and Cheney have many politicos and members of the press confused. Many expected Bush and Cheney, coming from the oil industry, to nominate someone with a more aggressive and knowledgeable background. Why would they? With an anti-regulation man as Energy Secretary, Bush can run the Department of Energy out of the White House. Apparently Bush has been exploring for oil on the south lawn, and he has plans to replace the rose garden with a pair of oilrigs.
It's no joke: Bush's cabinet nominations are simply insulting to the American people who expect some compromise in a man that did not win the popular election.
