I have a DeSmogBlog post further praising the selection of Steven Chu to head the Energy Department. Here's a quote:

A few weeks ago in Los Angeles, I saw Chu speak at a National Academy of Sciences event devoted to connecting science and the entertainment industry. Chu focused on global warming and compared our civilization to the Titanic, about to hit an iceberg unless we wake up and recognize the course we're on. It was a brilliant message, although I can testify that while Chu may be an electrifying choice for Energy Secretary, he is not a very electrifying lecturer. But far more important is that we actually have someone, at such a high post in government, who revels in the life of the mind. In Chu's Nobel Laureate biography, he notes that in the eighth grade he "taught himself tennis by reading a book," discusses how Richard Feynman's lectures inspired him to keep going in physics, and describes at length the stimulating intellectual environment at Bell Labs, where he spent much of his career and had "no obligation to do anything except the research we loved best. The joy and excitement of doing science permeated the halls." I can't think of any words that better demonstrate that a new day has finally arrived for America.

You can read the full entry here. And again, here is Steve Chu endorsing Science Debate 2008: