The "Environmental President"

In my posts on the SOTU, I wondered about the lack of any reaction from progressives to Bush's promises to adopt more environmentally-friendly, sustainable methods of moving our automobiles and heating our homes. Rush Limbaugh was quite convinced that liberals "ought to be having multiple orgasms" over Bush's alternative energy proposals. His analysis of those proposals appears to be right on the mark, though: "He's just putting this stuff in there to, you know, to ameliorate the -- everybody in the audience. Gotta give everybody something in a State of the Union address, even the environmentalist[s]."
So how have the alternative-energy solutions fared within two days of their being announced? Well, er, um, not so much, actually:

Diplomatically, Mr. Bush's ambitious call for the replacement of 75 percent of the United States' Mideast oil imports with ethanol and other energy sources by 2025 upset Saudi Arabia, the main American oil supplier in the Persian Gulf. In an interview on Wednesday, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said he would have to "seek an explanation" from Mr. Bush.

And today:

Administration backs off Bush's vow to reduce Mideast oil imports
By Kevin G. Hall
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally. [emphasis added]

Ah well, so much for the "environmental president". Not that anyone on this side of the aisle believed him anyway.