Just as Bush, the former president, took his opponent, Michael Dukakis, to task for ignoring the environment in his home state, so will Gore lambaste his opponent. In 1988 Bush went to Boston to ridicule Dukakis for the pollution problems in Boston Harbor. Next year, Gore, the likely Democratic nominee for president, will head to Texas. With a swarm of reporters in tow, and a spate of TV cameras humming, Gore will stand in front of the Alcoa smelter, the state's largest source of grandfathered air pollutants, and point to the smokestacks as they belch smoke into the clear blue sky. Then, just to make sure everyone gets the point, Gore will quote former President Bush.
American heritage is precious.
There is a new breeze blowing, a new current of concern for the environment. The younger Bush will be hard-pressed to explain why he is so uninterested in environmental issues, particularly when the GOP has a long history of involvement on the environment. It was Theodore Roosevelt who created the national parks system. Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. Nixon also signed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act into law.