When I think of it, I like to check out InfoHistory’s This Day in History page. Today’s, December 1, cracked me up.
1997: Representatives from more than 150 countries gathered at a global warming summit in Kyoto, Japan, and over the course of ten days forged an agreement to control the emission of greenhouse gases. President Bush pulled the U.S. out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.
1998: Exxon and Mobil agreed to merge, creating the world’s largest corporation.
I love the fact that even This Day in History information is infiltrated with left wing political bias. They left out a key detail. As Ed Morrisey noted at the late great Captains Quarters blog, long before George Bush, President Clinton submitted the Kyoto Treaty to the Senate and it was a moment of great bi-partisanship and unity. It was rejected 95-0.
Outside of national tragedies, few leaders can bring a Senate together like that. As Frank J. Fleming covers in his hilarious book Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything, he’s the one guy who can even top Bill Clinton,
President Obama’s budget sinks, 97-0
The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to reject a $3.7 trillion budget plan that President Obama sent to Capitol Hill in February. Ninety-seven senators voted against a motion to take it up.
The other item, the announcement by Exxon of their acquisition of Mobil, forming, “the world’s largest corporation”. I love that they chose the one year anniversary of Kyoto. Yes, the numbers are staggering. This $75 billion deal created a company with $181 in annual revenues. Sounds big. Except it isn’t. Not in the business Exxon has to operate in.
We’ve long had a soft spot for Big Oil, mostly because of their enemies. Not only are they a virtual mom and pop operation in their industry, they have to operate on razor thing profit margins, less than 10%. Not to mention that unlike friends of Obama they actually pay a large amount of taxes.
Anyway, I found that juxtaposition of the Kyoto Treaty and ExxonMobil merger amusing. As for significance, it pales in comparison to the days most significant event.
