Progressive Buttons Blog

It’s time for the 2008 presidential election to get fishy.

The sharp drop in the salmon runs on the Pacific Coast this year, and their profound effect on people’s lives there, is a wakeup call. Fish populations in freshwater and saltwater, Atlantic, Pacific and inland, are plummeting. It’s a crisis of unprecedented proportions.

The next President of the United States is going to have to deal with issues of American waters and the ecological crisis in the Earth’s oceans and rivers. George W. Bush has avoided the issue during both terms of his presidency while things got worse.

Barack Obama understands the importance of environmental protections. He also has called for a restoration of the integrity of the scientific process in government institutions. Obama’s opponent, John McCain, has just offered to continue the apathy of the Bush years.

That’s why Ichthyologists are for Barack Obama, and it’s why this year, for the first time ever, a political campaign button with Barack Obama pictured in front of a school of fish makes perfect sense.