A businessman to lead Commerce and a combat veteran to lead the Joint Chiefs. That hissing sound you hear is the air being let out of the Republican's talking points.

A businessman with serious environmental chops, as well. NRDC is a big player in the environmental litigation movement.

The serious environmental chops will be the reason the GOPTP will do its best to filibuster or block his nomination.

Hmmm - How much of this nomination is a reaction to the Republicans vs. who Obama really wants to lead Commerce?

LoL No doubt, Jody. Well, then ... I suppose he'd better study up on the really important stuff, like what happened when Adam and Eve met the dinosaurs, why God put all the oil underneath them A-rab countries, and why God is trying to acclimate us to warm weather.

Yea, he's a real prize.

Forbes has him on their worst-valued chief executives list .....

From Forbes.com / John Bryson: Green At Heart, Greener In The Wallet by Betsy Schiffman ....

Bryson took home $4 million for every percentage point Edison shrank (measured by average of annualized growth in sales, income, and share price over 5 years)

That's only $11 million. Small potatos for ineptness in a tough state to make money, or be successful. Oh well.

And BTW - for all you libbie guys and gals screaming about jobs...... you do know that green jobs typically cost anywhere from 2 - 5 other jobs for every green job created, right? At least the experience in Spain - UK, but what do they know that the community organizer in chief doesn't.

Groucho Marx

don't you think that the "common sense" he's got would be a challenge for republicants and that i'll think makes him a no no for them......you know, since they don't have any.

@ bob -- The article you cite is from 2001. I wondered why the numbers seemed a little low.

http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/03/bryson.html

The article is actually quite complimentary, however. Here's a little taste ...

His environmentally friendly past makes it all the more surprising that he would join the enemy's forces midfight. If he seems the most unlikely person to champion a utility's cause, he is. He's been called a sellout and a traitor, but has still managed to keep fans both on Wall Street and among environmentalists.

"I still see plenty of evidence of an environmentalist in the decisions he's made," Cavanagh says. "I haven't always agreed with his decisions, but I would like to see more people like John running the utilities. He helped pioneer regulatory reform that would create financial incentives for energy efficiency."

In the early stages of deregulation, Bryson vocalized concern that the utilities' financial incentives were tied to electricity consumption. After all, the more electricity used, the higher a utility's revenue. Bryson advocated regulatory reform that would compensate utilities for electricity conserved as if it were electricity consumed.

Financial analysts are equally wowed by Bryson, arguing that the company's sorry performance has nothing to do with Bryson's management and everything to do with the California deregulation fiasco. Utility companies were supposed to be making out like bandits after deregulation took place, but the energy crisis put a damper on that.

Hmmm ... guess it wasn't all his fault, was it?

Well, then, thanks for giving me the incentive to look at this, bobby.

bob-1805084

I'm starting to think Forbes is a right-wing propagandist rag, ala FOX News. Forbes put out a list saying Maine was the "least business friendly" state in the union, which the Tea Party had been beating us over the head with every since. A little digging uncoverd what is so un-business-friendly about us: we actually have protections in place to protect the environment. Protections the governor is trying to repeal in the name of "jobs creation." Two more years of this Republican majority in our state legislature, and a whole generation of environmentalists will be voting Democratic for the rest of their lives.

Awww, Anna Molly, you're taking away the one talking point the conservatives had....

Keep up the great work!

bob-1805084

i guess you got that forbes link version from faux news site. you guys are truth challenged.

Anna Molly

good job.

The President is always dammed if he does and dammed if he doesn't. It's a no win situation in pleasing some of these people.

Well, at least bob had the courage to post on this thread. I notice the other conservatives have mostly passed it by. That strikes me as a good sign.

Hope you all have a pleasant afternoon.

If Forbes is opposed to him, he can not be all bad.

Well at least we found something we can disagree on that is supportable for both sides.

The Forbes quote was followed by a note regarding the difficulty of doing business in the state of California due to their environmental agenda with a concluding sentiment of oh well.

The BTW comment noting environmentalism vs. jobs was the true crux of the post.

So global warming / global cooling or globull climate change because liberals can never keep up with whether the weather is cooling or getting hotter (I know.... I know there is a difference between weather and climate) regardless - the diaphanous notion of climate change costs jobs and destroys the economy.

So just be honest, whether it is about a 3" little smelt in the central valley of California, or a 3" lizard nobody has seen in the Permian Basin of west Texas, Liberalism will always give the benefit of doubt to a bait fish or lizard or some slug or bug or whatever before any consideration to the poor and middle class Americans that need jobs and reasonably priced food, energy etc.

The US has more natural energy sources than any other country on the planet. It is ridiculous to destroy jobs and the economy, to be dependent on foreign countries for no reason when so many Americans are suffering.

But ......... that's Obama and liberalism for you.

Bob, the realities of carbon emissions:

Coal discovery triggered the Industrial Revolution and the era of machines. And as pollutants spewed out from polluting industries, it was the beginning of our environmental decline. After two centuries on coal and one on oil, fossil fuels are now the root of our biggest problem ~ no matter our political allegiance.

Coal and oil are finite and will run out. Right now, oil is peaking globally. We don't know exactly when, but we can predict that first oil, then natural gas then coal will decline over the next few decades. Today we're dangerously dependent upon them. That is why the global race is on to corner alternative energy markets.

We are not hard-wired to respond to slow-developing dangers, so they have to be taught and learned. Big Oil and big money and their corporate mouthpieces are banking on our uninformed and helpless obedience. They hope we'll close our eyes to climate change, defend their short term profits and be good foot soldiers on behalf of their shareholders.

You wrote, "that's Obama and liberalism for you". The President did not cause global warming. Those on the left are not happy about it and I assume neither are you.

Backhouse

Check out the reality of the Congressional Research Service report on US Fossil Fuel Resources.

You don't have a clue.

I did check out the CRS report and saw the detailed sections on Terminology, Reporting and Summary from 2009. Did not see any timeline projections anywhere in it, if those are the "clue(s)" you speak about.

Over 95% of our energy comes from burning fossil fuels, 50% of US oil is used up by private autos.

from biotour.org: 1. There is a finite amount of fossil fuel left on the planet. 2. The majority of the world's remaining fossil fuel is located outside the borders of the United States..

"There is a finite amount of fossil fuel left on the planet. Most experts agree that there are between 990 billion to 1.1 trillion barrels of accessible crude petroleum oil left on the planet. The BP World Energy Review 2002 puts the number at 1.05 trillion. At the current rate of usage, 24 billion barrels a year, the world will run out of oil by the year 2043. Furthermore, if the demand for crude continues to increase at the same rate that it has in the past, the world's oil supply may be depleted of as soon as the year 2020."

Correction, "Over 90 percent of the energy we use in the United States comes from burning fossil fuels".

biotour.org.

UAW, you mean the last guy that was a lawyer, Yale guy and 30 year politician didn't meet your standards for being able to run the Commerce dept.? Surely the guys that do it on theory from the ivy leagues know what they are doing?

Big, Be careful this is a liberal blog. Of course a politcian knows much more about business. Besides it's not about expanding jobs, oppurtunity or business as long as we can expand, medicare, mediacid, unemployment and welfare you don't need Commerce..... VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2012!