Truespeak

When you hold the highest elected office in the most powerful country on earth, people are compelled to give you the benefit of the doubt. Such is the case for George W. Bush. For the last four years, the states have gone along (maybe somewhat reluctantly) with the administration's policies. But not anymore. It appears as if the wheels may be falling off.

On Monday we learned that Connecticut was filing suit against the federal government over NCLB.

Connecticut became the first state to file suit against the federal government over the No Child Left Behind Act, claiming the Bush administration has not provided enough money to pay for new testing and programs.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Hartford against federal Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, asks a judge to declare that state and local funds cannot be used to meet the goals of the law.

"We in Connecticut do a lot of testing already, far more than most other states. Our taxpayers are sagging under the crushing costs of local education," said Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell. "What we don't need is a new laundry list of things to do — with no new money to do them."

Then today we learned that several states have decided they can't wait any longer for the Bush administration to act on greenhouse gasses.

Nine northeastern U.S. states are working on a plan to cap and then reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the first U.S. deal of its kind and one which would see the region breaking with President George W. Bush who refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol

The move comes as California, Washington and Oregon are considering a similar pact -- a dynamic environmentalists say could pressure the federal government to adopt a national law. Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the greenhouse gas reduction plan adopted by more than 150 countries.

It's one thing when some of the people aren't with you, but now he can't even keep the states in line. Poor George. Only seven months into his second term and he's already being treated like a lame duck.

(By the way, bonus points to the first person to come up with the proper reply to the title of this post.)