On the topic of air quality, continued

ON THE TOPIC OF AIR QUALITY, CTD: Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones seems thoroughly unimpressed by this most recent development in environmental law.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the announcement came on day when the Labor Department released the worst jobs report in 11 months. The move certainly plays right into the "jobs vs. the environment" frame that the opponents of any and all regulations have constructed. Worse, though, is that it feeds the idea that it's perfectly okay for the administration to ignore the advice of agency scientists. It's also not clear whom Obama thinks he's going to win over with this. I'm pretty sure this won't send the American Petroleum Institute or the Chamber of Commerce rushing to donate to his reelection bid, or make Republicans start saying nice things about him.

Her last sentence happens to be congruent to my views on the matter. She's right: this won't change the Republican rhetoric on Obama, nor will it give him greatly augmented opportunities for funding. However, you cannot deny that handing out a $90 billion bill to businesses over the next nine years is hardly a politically intelligent move, even if you are a Democrat.