The Pyrrhic victory at Kyoto can make the 1994 election look like minor bushwhacking. Ernest Republicans are urging the President to submit the treaty to the Senate immediately so that they can defeat it once and for all. And what an issue. While it is true that environmental regulation has been by and large supported by Americans, this support always has been mitigated by concerns it would depress the number of jobs. With the case for economic harm from Kyoto so strong, the political benefits of opposing it are overwhelming.
Farmers are equally alarmed.
But the critical factor is that the labor unions are opposed too. Labor is the last support of the New Deal Democratic Party. But it must oppose this treaty since it threatens just too many traditional union jobs. Perhaps the most politically sensitive issue is, the policy is being forced from outside, by many of America's enemies. Even in Europe, where they too are limited by the treaty, most of the nations are getting a free ride.