Much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Guardian this morning over climate change. It seems that the Obama administration doesn’t like the Kyoto treaty any more than its predecessor did.

So the whole thing wasn’t Bush’s fault after all? Ah well, not so fast. It’s still all the Republicans’ fault, according to Jonathan Freedland, who somehow manages to admit one minute that ”it was not Bush who killed the Kyoto treaty in the US. The Senate rejected it by a margin of 95 votes to none” and in the next breath characterise its opponents as “Republican headbangers”.

The new administration is kicking the sainted Kyoto treaty into the long grass. Score another one for the Obama-Bush doctrine.

UPDATE Re-posting the Van Jones piece here to escape the spammers:

What week-long controversy say MSM viewers as Van Jones quits

Is anyone surprised by the lack of appetite for the Afghan war shown in the latest ABC-WaPo poll?

As we’ve said before, Obama and his party have, all along, been faking enthusiasm for Afghanistan to give themselves political cover for opposing Bush on Iraq.

Now they’re stuck with it.

What’s more, some commentators are starting to notice the silence of the anti-war movement. As Cindy Sheehan says, it should really be renamed the anti-Republican War movement.

And she has an interesting story to tell regarding press coverage of her activities since January 20.

I’ve been protesting every time I can, and it’s not covered.  But the one time I did get a lot of coverage was when I protested in front of George Bush’s house in Dallas in June.

When mayor Ken Livingstone introduced the congestion charge in 2003, the US embassy refused to pay, claiming it was a form of local taxation and foreign diplomats were therefore exempt.

Inevitably this was portrayed as typical Bush era arrogance.

So with a new Obama-appointed ambassador in residence, one Labour member of the London assembly, Murad Qureshi, wrote to the President asking him to reverse the policy.

His letter is an absolute must-read. Check out the fawning references to the “mean-spirited decision taken under your predecessor’s administration” and its “ignoble attitude” and “unfortunate tone”.

“I know you are seeking to introduce a new era of international relations with your Presidency, one based on decency and mutual respect,” he goes on, “and in that spirit I respectfully ask you to . . .” You get the idea.

Sadly, it seems that in between his very decent and respectful bombing of Pakistan and continued detention of the Gitmo prisoners, our hero has told Mr Qureshi where to go. The policy on the C-charge stands.

Score another one for the Obama-Bush doctrine.

Time magazine’s account of the tensions inside the White House over the Scooter Libby pardon that never was is a must-read.

The online version, though, lets itself down badly by dropping in stupidly provocative cross-references throughout the text. So we get links to “See America’s worst Vice Presidents”, “See Bush’s economic mistakes” and my personal favourite “See pictures of polarizing politicians on Life.com”.

UPDATE Brent Baker at Newsbusters agrees about the links.

From the Washington Post’s Sunday magazine, an extract from a new book on Donald Rumsfeld.

It’s not immediately clear what the hatchet job rating is but it’s a must-read all the same.

Bradley Graham, long-time Pentagon correspondent for the Post, is the author. The book’s title is By His Own Rules.

Five months in, Politico has noticed that President Obama’s religious references make his predecessor look like an unbeliever. And that the atheist movement is perfectly fine with that. 

We were on the case on day one after the inauguration speech.

The Speech.

The odd thing is, apart from possibly the bit about Israel, this speech could just as easily have been given by President Bush.

Except Bush would have had it thrown back in his face by everyone, not just Bin Laden. Don’t talk to us about peace while you’re bombing Afghan villages etc.

 

What have ex-presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush got in common? Apart from making a joint appearance tonight in Toronto, they’ve both apparently made their peace with Barack Obama.

But Bill still bears a grudge against the Kennedys and Bill Richardson for their primary endorsements, says Sunday’s piece in the New York Times.

And Dubya has broadly backed up Dick Cheney on interrogation, while being careful not to criticise his successor in the White House.

UPDATE Here’s the Washington Times report on what seems to have been a pretty friendly encounter, inside the hall at least.

Newsweek is the latest to report on what Dubya’s up to these days.

Talking to kids because they’re the only ones who don’t know how unpopular he is, is the gist of it.

And of course the predictable stuff about being in the only corner of the United States where he’s among friends, which we’ve heard before.

Well, at least they covered it. But CNN reporter Susan Roesgen’s mask slipped when she interviewed demonstrators at the Chicago event.

First, she started yelling at a guy she was supposed to be interviewing, not debating.

Then she rounded on a guy for calling Obama a fascist (”Do you realise how offensive that is?”).

But Newsbusters has her bang to rights with video from 2006 showing her reporting from an anti-war rally (CORRECTION actually it was a post-Katrina protest in New Orleans) and having no problem at all with a Bush effigy decked out in devil’s horns and Hitler moustache.

Founding Bloggers has video of heated exchanges between her and the crowd yesterday.

And here’s CNN’s own Howard Kurtz on the media divide in reporting the tea parties.

UPDATE Contrast the honeyed tones Roesgen used at a Chicago protest three months ago.