Who is John Dingell

Eve Fairbanks takes us on a trip through John Dingell's (D-GM/Ford/Chrysler) mind:

Soon enough, unprintables litter our conversation as Congress's oldest member goes off the record to reveal his inner shock jock. His ire is directed at what he calls "these damned environmentalists"--"I have been constantly criticized by them," he says--and at his own colleagues who have been inspired by visions of a global apocalypse. These dire warnings have severely backfired with Dingell: He views their bearers as caught in a rush to save the world while forgetting the sacred mechanisms of legislating and the economic machine that fuels the American dream. "I have no sympathy for somebody who doesn't want to write a balanced bill," he grouses.

Good to know he legislates out of spite! Also, slight correction, the title for Congress's oldest member, clocking in at 83 years of age, goes to Ralph Hall of Texas, who's also on the Energy & Commerce committee, making it just about the oldest, crankiest committee in the House.

But seriously. Balance is something you look for in political issues. Maybe one major interest group thinks the federal minimum wage should be eliminated while another thinks it should be $15.00 per hour, so the two parties negotiate, scream and yell, then mollify, and ultimately settle on some sort of compromise. The environment isn't that kind of issue. It's hard not to sound hysterical about it--and maybe this is where Dingell flinches--but either you side with humanity or you don't. A "balanced" climate change bill likely equals disaster.

Unfortunately I don't think Eve's conclusion takes that into account--a Democratic climate change proposal ought to be anything but balanced:

After a meeting with Pelosi last week, the two simply put off much of what was supposed to be in the July 4 [climate change] bill--including the controversial coal and emissions provisions--until the fall. A staffer passes on Waxman's feelings on the postponement: "I hope our fights are behind us." But sitting with Dingell in his office a day before they announced the compromise, the prospects for détente sounded grim. "I work with everybody," Dingell says curtly when asked about his relationship with Waxman.

But, by painting Dingell as a tyrant and mounting coups, the green-minded may be hurting their own cause. Dingell likes to make deals--he's fashioned successful ones, he reminds me, on environmental issues ranging from ocean dumping to endangered species. And, despite his open frustration, he is no lion in winter, raging on a lonely throne while his court machinates around him. He is still chairman, and his umbrage affects what the House can accomplish. "I keep telling the environmental leaders, 'Don't piss him off,'" says Sharp, almost pleadingly. "It doesn't serve their interests."

I guess the suggestion is that green-minded people ought to give Dingell all the space he wants and hope that what comes out of his negotiations with himself is enough to put our emissions situation on the right course. I think that's a bad idea. I also think it's a bad idea for MoveOn to post protesters outside his office dressed as dinosaurs, and run ads in his district calling him a Dingellsaurus. But smart, hard-nosed advocacy is, I think, key to making sure he knows that there's more at stake than just the auto industry.

Fortunately, recent reports indicate that he may be coming around. All the same, though, Dingell is still a congressman largely because he wanted to chair the Energy & Commerce committee in an era of Democratic dominance. He's getting his shot now. But his chairmanship doesn't make him the great overlord of our nation's energy policy--he still has to grapple with Waxman and, more importantly, Pelosi, who, if she felt like it, could move the necessary House machinery to strip him of his chairmanship. Which is to say it's not just greens who have to work with Dingell. Dingell better understand that he has to work with greens, too.