Global Warming Bill Passes House

One of the important planks in Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s platform was revising the country’s energy policy and curbing global warming. Leading nations have agreed that ignoring global warming for decades has put our earth in danger. The prevailing sentiment in the United States shares that concern.

After a string of early Obama successes, including passage of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, the climate bill facing a vote in Congress appeared to be in trouble, without sufficient votes to pass. The legislation would limit the pollution blamed for global warming and launch actions necessary to combat global warming. Facing a rare defeat, President Barack Obama put a big dose of political capital on the line and scored a major victory just when he needed one. He faces an even more difficult test in shepherding the energy and climate legislation through the Senate.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that he didn't expect Senate action until the fall. "We're trying to solve a problem that has languished for a decade," he said.

"I hope it won't pass the Senate," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on "Fox News Sunday," claiming the measure would lead to "significant cost increases in electricity across America."

Still, he called the bill "an extraordinary first step."

With his high scores in popularity declining somewhat, the president faces another difficult task, health care reform. Republicans continue to express concerns that the president is trying to do too much in the midst of a recession and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This sentiment is shared privately by some Democrats wary of some of the president’s proposals, including deficit spending as Obama pumps an enormous amount of money into the economy and elsewhere.

The one thing that everyone should be able to agree on is that this president is intent on keeping the promises he made to the American people during his campaign. He may not get to all of them, but, in my opinion, he certainly is giving it the old college try.