Next week's unveiling of the Senate's Kerry-Graham-Lieberman climate bill (KGL for the greenorati) sparked an interesting discussion about climate change politics on Twitter. Participating in this informal colloquy were Eric Pooley, the deputy editor at Business Week and author of an upcoming book on the subject, Brad Johnson of the Center for American Progress, and David Roberts of Grist, one of the top environmental beat reporters.Roberts had apparently gotten a sneak peak at Pooley's book, which recounts, among other things, the strenuous political exertions of some Democrats to pass the Waxman-Markey climate change bill last year. Some Democrats exerted themselves, but not all: Roberts tweeted that "Lesson from @EricPooley's book #ClimateWar: at every stage, Rahm [Emanuel] has been a force pushing against climate action. Doesn't see upside."
I tweeted back, agreeing that the White House chief of staff "doesn't want O to spent pol cap."
Which makes it weird, I noted, that Rahm whipped votes for Waxman-Markey last year.
Pooley replied that there's no mystery: "Waxman, Pelosi forced his hand by bringing it to the floor."
Roberts wrote back: "Early in admin, Rahm saw it as morass that wd drain O's popularity & momentum. Still does, I suspect. Thus hands-off approach."