[TheRealThing]

Unfortunately, that is not how the federal bureaucracy works. Once the liberal civil servants infest an agency, it is very difficult to shift the regulatory momentum. It takes very strong leadership in the White House to undo the actions of a previous administration and public sector unions have made the task even more difficult than it was following the Carter and Clinton messes.

Even under Republican presidents, liberal cabinet members have managed to inflict heavy damage to the coal industry. George H. W. Bush appointed Lynn Woodward to be Sec. of Labor, and she persecuted coal mine operators worse than any of the pre-Obama generation of liberal regulators, IMO. Under her "leadership" many small operators were coerced into pleading guilty to offenses in exchange for suspended sentences to avoid going bankrupt from the cost of legal costs. I spoke to operators who were told that if they did not agree to a plea deal, then charges would be brought against their mothers, fathers, and other relatives who were company officers.

I am not saying that the operators were not guilty, but the government's cases were flimsy and the operators' family members only involvement with the businesses were often limited to being listed as officers on the corporate charters. Lynn Woodward was a vicious self-centered politician whose life ambition was to be the first female president and she tried to use small mine operators as a stepping stone for her career.

Obama's damage to the coal industry will be long lasting. It would take an extreme national energy emergency to quickly undo that damage. Most of Obama's bureaucrats will retire as government regulators.

All true. I would think that the mood of the people would be conducive to that end considering the recent lie fest exposé.