Bush's record is a low bar, however - too low. Yes, the country needs a president who will reverse Bush administration rules allowing coal miners to destroy Appalachian mountaintops and oil companies to drill in protected lands. But even more, the United States and the world need a president with the vision to make this nation an international leader in confronting climate change, which is already thought to be a factor in the droughts that are one cause of worldwide food shortages and price increases.So far, candidates Clinton, Obama, and McCain have all promised some form of mandatory cap and trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions. This is a step Bush always shrank from, even though a study released yesterday by the Environmental Defense Fund says that capping carbon dioxide would cost US households less than 1 percent of their income over the next 20 years.
But when both Democratic candidates pledged in last week's debate not to increase taxes on the broadly defined middle class, they seemed to rule out, for instance, any hike in the gasoline tax as a way to reduce consumption and fund conservation or research in renewables. McCain would go so far as to encourage more driving - and more emissions - by suspending 18 cents of the gas tax in the summer.
While none of the three candidates would snigger at energy conservation, as Vice President Cheney did, as a "sign of personal virtue," they also do little to press Americans to reduce their carbon footprint beyond asking them to use different light bulbs.
Fast-growing countries like China and India, which have the potential to send climate change into overdrive, will not alter their course if the United States maintains a wasteful and heavily polluting lifestyle while preaching conservation to others. The cap and trade system is not enough. At some point, a candidate should step forward and tell home truths about climate change, just as Obama did about race. The way the campaign is going now, next Earth Day will see a president with a better environmental record, but not necessarily a president with a mandate to forestall the turn toward a "different planet" feared by scientists.