Bush's "striking shift" on global warming.

ITEM: On August 26, 2004 the New York Times reported a "striking shift in the way the Bush administration has portrayed the science of climate change...." The Times detected the supposed shift in position in a new report the administration submitted to Congress. That report, noted the Times, "focuses on federal research indicating that emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are the only likely explanation for global warming over the last three decades." The Times story continued: "In delivering the report to Congress yesterday, an administration official, Dr. James R. Mahoney, said it reflected 'the best possible scientific information' on climate change. Previously, President Bush and other officials had emphasized uncertainties in understanding the causes and consequences of warming as a reason for rejecting binding restrictions on heat-trapping gases."

The Times story made a number of additional points reinforcing the "striking shift" theme. The article declared: "American and international panels of experts concluded as early as 2001 that smokestack and tailpipe discharges of heat-trapping gases were the most likely cause of recent global warming. But the White House had disputed those conclusions." The article also described President Bush as having "gradually come around to the position that warming is at least partly caused by emissions." And it reminded readers: "'The last time the administration issued a document suggesting that global warming had a human cause and posed big risks was in June 2002, in a submission to the United Nations under a climate treaty. President Bush distanced himself from it, saying it was something 'put out by the bureaucracy.'"

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: The supposed "striking shift" that the New York Times recently detected did not occur--but that's only because George W. Bush himself had already called for stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases. Bush has in the past voiced opposition to the Kyoto (global warming) treaty, but he has not opposed the underlying assumption behind Kyoto that something must be done about these emissions.

Three years ago, in a July 30, 2001 cover story on global warming, THE NEW AMERICAN made clear exactly where President Bush stood on the supposed global warming threat:

   Although Bush has backed away
   from Kyoto, he has not backed away
   from the issue of global warming or
   the supposed need to do something
   about it. "... America's unwillingness
   to embrace a flawed treaty should not
   be read by our friends and allies as
   any abdication of responsibility," he
   said in his June 11th [2001] speech
   [on the subject of global warming].
   "To the contrary, my administration
   is committed to a leadership role on
   the issue of climate change." Like his
   predecessor [Bill Clinton], Bush is
   committed to reducing "greenhouse"
   gases--which is exactly what Kyoto
   was supposed to have accomplished.
   As Bush acknowledged: "Our approach
   must be consistent with the
   long-term goal of stabilizing greenhouse
   gas concentrations in the
   atmosphere."

Our article also quoted George Bush as saying in his June 11, 2001 speech:

   The issue of climate change respects
   no border. Its effects cannot be reined
   in by an army nor advanced by any
   ideology. Climate change, with its
   potential to impact every corner of
   the world, is an issue that must be
   addressed by the world.

      The Kyoto Protocol was fatally
   flawed in fundamental ways. But
   the process used to bring nations together
   to discuss our joint response to
   climate change is an important one.
   That is why I am today committing
   the United States of America to work
   within the United Nations framework
   and elsewhere to develop with
   our friends and allies and nations
   throughout the world an effective and
   science-based response to the issue
   of global warming.

Bush's acceptance of the chimera of global warming is not a recent shift, nor is it striking for readers of THE NEW AMERICAN.