At the start of his second term, the President was clear that he had five major objectives: job creation, gun violence reform, immigration reform, a balanced approach to reducing the deficit and dealing with climate change. Lots of people were curious to know what he was going to do about that last one. Now we know.
Like many of you, I got an email from OFA this week:
Right now, way too many lawmakers in Washington flat-out refuse to face the facts when it comes to climate change.Climate change activists were happy to see this but immediately wanted to know "where's the beef?" In other words, where are the policy proposals? Here's what Ivan Frishberg, OFA's climate change campaign manager, had to say about that.
We're never going to make real progress on this issue unless members of Congress get serious. Instead, some of them have made a habit of publicly mocking it.
We thought it was time to call them out for denying what's basic science.
"I think there is something that's fundamental about starting the conversation by saying this thing is real," Frishberg said. "If we can't start there and have a consensus there, then how do you ever move the conversation forward? You can disagree or agree on different policy approaches. But if people are throwing out those premises-- the impact on people's lives, the clarity of the science -- if they're throwing that overboard, it's hard to go much further."...Does that sound like our Community Organizer-in-Chief or what?
"We have a Congress that is filled with folks who reject the basic science of climate change," said Frishberg. "So a lot of what we're going to be doing is focusing on a long-term effort to change the conversation."
As we've already seen, when it comes to the Department of Defense and the entire National Security apparatus, the President is making great strides on climate change in areas where he has executive authority. But when it comes to Congressional legislation - nothing is going to happen when 240 members have voted to say that climate change is a hoax.
If the overwhelming evidence from science won't motivate them to pay attention - perhaps its time to embarrass them.
Embarrass them? Seriously? These people are completely without shame and the only time they walk anything they say back is when their base and/or Rush Limbaugh scream loud enough. They are fundamentally incapable of being embarrassed. If all the nonsense Michele Bachmann spews doesn't embarrass them, then nothing we say or do will either. The people who are lining their campaign coffers are telling them climate change is a hoax. So guess what? That's what they believe and what they'll keep saying to anyone who will listen.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to 'change the conversation' is to vote them out of office.
The only way to 'change the conversation' is to vote them out of office
DeleteI think that's the point of embarrassing them.
Well, we do live in a country where a vast swath of the population denies the theory of evolution and I suspect doubt the existence of climate change, and even if they do, are cowed by fear of job losses or higher taxes or higher energy prices.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they just don't like having a black President. these days who can tell?