Climate bill: playing catch-up while the hurdles are down

As the sun rises in Europe, Britons awake to a Guardian editorial directing their attention to Washington, where the United States will consider–Friday or Saturday, we are now hearing–its first cap on carbon emissions, and a carbon trading system that will create an economic incentive for not polluting. Does something about this paragraph sound rather British?
A dozen years of New Labour has repeatedly shown how, in the absence of a progressive strategy, mere tactics fill the void. Imperfect as it is, Waxman-Markey locks America into a plan, which is why it is so essential Congress endorses it today. Yes, the US is late to the climate-change fight; true, these steps are not big enough. But Washington is at last playing catch-up – and that is cause for modest optimism.
via guardian.co.uk
Modest optimism indeed. Americans seem to love or hate, if our pundits can be said to reflect us, and we could benefit from viewing politics with similar nuance.
Guardian also notes that Waxman-Markey, now known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, is more ambitious than anything promised by Barack Obama during his campaign. But the newspaper fails to credit one other figure without whom this bill would not have been possible–George W. Bush.
When in our lifetimes has it been possible to imagine such a bill could stand a chance to get past the Republican Party, a bill that charges industry for emitting carbon dioxide? In draining the treasury and our national standing, Bush drained the fight out of his party too. Did that help make progress possible? We’ll know soon.