Back to hope, kinda

I should say that despite the whole Rick Warren mess, I have been very happy with Obama's appointments in the energy-environment parts of his government (with the exceptions of Salazar and Vilsack, whom I'm merely "meh" about. And yes, Secretary of Agriculture is both energy and environment-related.) In particular, John Holdren as President's Science Advisor is an excellent, excellent choice, and people are rightly raving about Steven Chu as Sec. of Energy. Just the fact of having some of the best scientists in the world contributing to the President's understanding of climate change and the energy revolution we need is a stunning change from the Bush years. When you compare Holdren's view on climate change -- which are about as pessimistic as mine, God help the rest of you -- to the current occupant's Sciene Advisor, who's been at the helm of the Bush Administration's war on science, well, I think we're looking at a much better place.

So I'm optimistic that Barack Obama has appointed people who are about as terrified of the future as I am. What that means for the rest of you is less clear.