Whacks Man
The auto industry and what little manufacturing industry we have left was dealt another blow this past week when Henry A. Waxman successfully wrested the chair of the the House Energy and Commerce Committee from John D. Dingell. Said the Washington Post (on November 21)
Waxman’s victory also signaled the rise of a younger, more environmentally conscious party eager to support the policies of President-elect Barack Obama.
Younger? Waxman, at 69 years old is technically younger than Dingell (at 82). But is this a youth movement like, say, is represented by Barack Obama? I mean, Waxman is about as fresh as, say, Ashley Dupre, and usually makes about as much sense as Ashley, too.
No doubt that Waxman is environmentally conscious. He represents California’s 30th Congressional District, which includes Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood. Yikes. That group isn’t even in the mainstream of the extreme. Waxman is an oversight zealot, when it comes to oversight of Republicans. But don’t look for him to hold any hearings looking into Democrat misdeeds.
In Time magazine, a story on Waxman was headlined by: The Scariest Guy in Washington. And he has been called the Democrat’s Eliot Ness in the Nation. That article notes that Waxman’s beef with Dingell started back in the 1980’s.
Through the 1980s, he engaged in a now-legendary clash with John Dingell, then the powerful chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and a protector of the auto industry, over clean-air legislation. Finally, the two hammered out a deal that led to the 1990 Clean Air Act.
I suspect that Waxman is looking forward to making up for lost time. If that really is the case, then Detroit and the larger manufacturing sector will be torn asunder.
I hope that Waxman will be able to carve out some time to investigate the Democrat’s complicity in the Fannie and Freddie meltdown, as shown here:
Video of Democrats Defending Fannie and Freddie From Regulation