This is How We Roll

This is more like it. Sunday SFGate lightly glossed over the roles many Californians will play in the Obama administration. Today the Washington Post digs in and shows why the Chronicle is severely lacking as a paper. The WaPo covers three of the most important Californians in D.C, all of which the Chronicle left out, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep Henry Waxman and Senator Barbara Boxer.

"It's unique in terms of the power of this state in modern times," said James A. Thurber, who directs the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. To find another example of a state wielding such national influence, Thurber had to reach back to Texas in the 1950s, when Sam Rayburn was the House speaker and Lyndon B. Johnson was the Senate majority leader."

Waxman pushed out Rep. John D. Dingell earlier this year to head the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This new authority will give Waxman the ability to morph federal environmental laws that had been hindered by Dingell's loyalty to the Michigan car industry.

The money quote:

"It's not a question of passing new landmark laws," Boxer said. "It's a matter of getting these agencies back in gear. We have great tools, but they have not been functioning. For the past eight years, they've been sitting idle. The Californians coming, they don't have to rewrite the laws. They just have to enforce them. It's like the EPA has been asleep for eight years. The Californians are coming to wake the sleeping beauty."

Boxer's not telling the full truth. They know full well they want to enact policy change. The most likely coming in a cap and trade system that Obama ran on. It's sometimes difficult for Californians to forget the rest of the country doesn't have the same priorities as we do. But this is where Pelosi comes in. Dems still want to stay in power. It'll be entertaining watching it all unfold.

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