In a Pinch, Bush Has Staff to Go Green James P. Pinkerton. Bush political advisers figure that something needs to give, because the current one-two punch of the Democrats and the media is just too painful. But the biggest eco-issue of all, of course, is global warming. Abandoning any pretense of neutrality, the cover of the April 9 issue of Time magazine depicted the Earth as an egg in a frying pan. All over the Earth, we're feeling the heat.
Some scientists dispute global warming fears, but recent polls show the public is persuaded.
But maybe such scenarios are neither ludicrous nor unrealistic. The buzz in Washington is that Bush, having suffered from six weeks of withering criticism since he junked the Kyoto treaty, is going to come back with a compromise in his forthcoming energy plan, hoping, no doubt, that the cost-consequences won't be felt until after the 2004 election. Rosina Bierbaum, for example, is the acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. If so, then another name to watch is Annie Petsonk. White House spokeswoman Anne Womack had no comment on Petsonk's prospects.