I spent some time at Grist this morning, which I’m coming to value more and more as a one-stop shop for green news and info. It’s where I go when I want to hear, for example, some opinions about Obama appointees from people who have been following the appointees’ careers for a long time and therefore have an informed view.
Like, say, the O’s pick for Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. Rumblings in the green world sound much less pleased with Vilsack than with other picks, like Stephen Chu in the Department of Energy. I read several Grist articles about the Vilsack appointment and the overall impression is one of dispirited people caught between holding onto the hope they’d felt with Obama’s election, and letting their feelings of betrayal splash all over the Interweb.
Who, so to speak, is watching this henhouse?
"I fear that this nomination, with its explicit endorsement of the greed-ridden, corrupt, private biotechnology industry, is a sign that deep down, the public interest role of government is beyond repair," says Claire Hope Cummings. Sharon Astyk gripes, "Short of actually appointing, say, Monsanto’s chairman, it is hard to imagine a choice less likely to make real shifts in our food system." But Tom Philpott, noting the unusual public interest in this Ag Sec, sounds sunnier: "Typically, USDA chiefs make and interpret policy in complete obscurity. Vilsack finds himself in the limelight." And Denise O’Brien, who worked with Vilsack personally in Iowa, says he’s at least aware of the progressive foodie agenda, even if he’s not of that camp himself.
Still, those of you who don’t want to let it go should go here and sign a petition to block Vilsack’s appointment. I just did.
As I mentioned once before, a movement had been afoot to get the Very Important Writer, Michael Pollan, appointed to the ag post. You’ll see, in a comment on Philpott’s post, that the pro-Pollan folks are now trying to harness the enthusiasm they’d generated to create "a powerful new Food/Eater’s coalition." (Think they had that one planned from the beginning? Uh-huh.) One intriguing assignment they hand down: Think of someone from your state who deserves to be an Agriculture Undersecretary.
Joel Salatin‘s the obvious choice from Virginia, but what if we could populate the whole department with Virginian foodies? Who would you nominate?