"Are there more seats on the plane?"

Perhaps Obama could send some other Governors to Ambassadorships in other countries. I nominate Charlie Christ for Russia and Arnold can go......well just about anywhere, just get them out of their offices before they green their states to death.

FROM- NYT

Change on Climate in Utah Governorship?

President Obama’s appointment of Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. to become his ambassador to China could usher in a shift in the state’s attitude on climate change – and not one to environmentalists’ liking.

Mr. Huntsman, known as a moderate on many issues, has defied conservatives in his state to advocate for action on climate change.

In 2007, in the tradition of his fellow Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, he signed on to the Western Climate Initiative, an effort by Western states to cap greenhouse gas emissions.

Assuming Mr. Hunstman is confirmed by the Senate, his successor will be lieutenant governor Gary Herbert, who is known in the state for holding very different views on climate. Mr. Herbert would serve through 2010.

“Basically, we are going from a governor that was a national leader in the world’s most important environmental issue to one that denies that global warming exists,” said Marc Heileson, a Sierra Club representative in the group’s Utah field office, in an e-mail message.

An article last month in the Deseret News, which called Mr. Hunstman and Mr. Herbert a “political odd couple,” said that where Mr. Hunstman has called for action on climate, “Herbert attends meetings with traditional energy developers and expresses strong support for carbon-based energy sources.”

Joe Demma, Mr. Herbert’s chief of staff, outlined the differences between the two men in the Salt Lake Tribune: “Global warming needs to be realized before anyone talks about it, the science is not all there,” Mr. Demma told the Tribune. “Gary Herbert puts question marks on things that the governor has put periods on.”

As for Mr. Huntsman, he will be able to put his climate viewpoints to work in his new post. In making the appointment, President Obama mentioned “energy and climate change” as among the critical issues for discussion with the Chinese.
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