Due date: Oct. 19
“An X-Ray of Dysfunction,” by Thomas L. Friedman. NY Times, 10/12/10
“As the World Burns,” by Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker, 10/11/10
1. Who are John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman, and what did they decide to work on together? Why? Were they good friends? What challenges did they have with the idea of even working together? They were three senators that chose to work together on a climate-change and energy bill. They weren’t good friends considering Kerry and Lieberman had ran against each other for president in 2004. These chose to work together because they want a chance to change their reputations within their parties.
2. How did the climate-change bill morph into something completely different? Describe some of the changes. Some of the main focus became on drill for oil and other politicians were trying to get their issues into the bill (Pickens). Too many special interest groups were attempting to get their interests into the bill. It changed into focusing on oil, which ended being the tipping point for killing the bill when the oil spill in the Gulf occurred.
3. How, if at all, did the Gulf oil disaster affect this bill? Obama said that drilling for oil was very safe for the environment due to the advancements in technology. Oil was a huge issue that was attempting to make its way into the bill. The oil spill was the moment when Reid declared the importance of immigration and Graham pulled out.
4. Were there any heroes in this story? Any villains? What went wrong? Evan Byah was a villain; Obama could also be considered a villain because he put the bill on the back burner for health care and the economy; the heroes were the three senators (Graham, Kerry, and Lieberman) who came together to put this bill together. Too many people were trying to get their input into the bill. Fox news is considered a villain because they would attack Graham for his work with other parties. They would single him out for the failures of the bill. The media turned into a villain claiming K.G.L wanted to have a gas tax. Harry Reid tried to put immigration ahead of climate change.
5. What do you think are the lessons from this about the political process? How could the problems be fixed? The senators were trying to please to many politicians and get their policies into the bill. They spent too much time fixing it and angering people that it failed. Obama administration also didn’t help by putting it behind health care and economy.
6. Why did Tom Friedman write about Lizza’s article? He wrote about the article because he is frustrated with the efforts that were put in from opposing parties to write a clean energy bill, to have it shut down. He is disappointed as he should be in the lack of effort that politicians are putting forth to improve of country.
7. What were the lessons Friedman took from it? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? He says that we only have ourselves to blame, because we were the people who elected them into office. He is correct and his statement is true. We can also change it by elected others into office.
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