Arguing About Vilsack

Tom Philpott wants to know why the Organic Trade Association and friends have banded together online to support Vilsack in the face of the terrible menace of ... the Organic Consumers Association? Especially since it's widely assumed that he'll sail through his confirmation hearing.

I'm stumped, myself. The online Vilsack supporters range from plucky activists to Whole Foods executives, as well as other industrial organic actors. They've launched a full scale attack on OCA, whose concerns with Vilsack centered around his support for genetically modified food.

Granted, I thought it was always unlikely that the nominee for secretary of agriculture was going to be anything but a biotech enthusiast. As Philpott notes, the most likely alternatives to Vilsack were much, much worse on many other counts. In spite of how much I dislike the frankenfood lobby, I was very relieved when Vilsack was chosen.

OCA may have committed the sin of overenthusiasm, gleefully floating names like Michael Pollan's. (Pollan, a journalism professor, stated that he didn't want to be considered for the job.) The sort of iconic food movement figures they suggested as candidates for the position were hardly likely to be taken seriously by a president-elect who's consistently picked cabinet appointees with long public service resumes. They want the Senate to reject Vilsack, but without there being much in the way of palatable alternatives.

OTA and the Support Vilsack crew, on the other hand, devote a whole tab of their website to attacking OCA and defending Vilsack's biotech ties. Really? The OCA are their enemies and by the way, don't worry about his support for genetically modified food? Maybe it's an attempt at jujitsu brown-nosing, trying to legitimize themselves by putting down other organic activists and sucking up to power all at the same time.

The whole situation is a bit weird. It'll be interesting to see how these alliances shift and play out during future policy battles.