The (green) torch is passed - Press-Telegram

Just in case anyone still wondered, President-elect Barack Obama has now made it plain he is a greenhouse gas believer. He gave no truck during his campaign to skeptics' frequent claims that climate change has nothing to do with human activity and it's now certain he won't as president.
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For Schwarzenegger, this means he's lost his mantle as America's loudest and most visible governmental advocate in the global warming fight. But it will also mean that many goals he's pursued will come to fruition, or at least a start in that direction.

So there was satisfaction in his voice when Schwarzenegger said, "That is staggering. This is so huge. That's really big, because now we as a nation can lead, like we do in other things. Now we can inspire other nations."

Schwarzenegger, entering his last two years as governor, plainly wants to be remembered for the climate change fight as much as for any other thing he's done. "Let me tell you," he said, "when I signed the nation's first law to cap greenhouse gas emissions, California was leading a revolution, but without any soldiers Our revolution now has soldiers and it's spreading around the globe and I'm very happy about that."

In effect, Schwarzenegger was passing a leadership torch to Obama, after years of carrying it through a dark time. And Obama indicated in strong language that he's ready to accept the relay handoff and run with it - another striking example of California pioneering a national and international trend.