Obama Deserves Major Credit on Climate Change

by Deacon Blues

At a time when 30-40% of the electorate has tuned him out because he isn’t laser-focused on terrorism, I have to give Barack Obama credit for pushing ahead to address the real long-term existential threat we face: climate change. It is quite remarkable that more than a decade after George W. Bush doomed the planet by summarily rejecting Kyoto and then never offered an alternative that Obama got a worldwide agreement done to address greenhouse gas emissions.

I would argue that Obama’s real long-term successes in foreign policy will center on this climate deal and his Iranian nuclear program agreement, rather than fulfilling his campaign promises to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan. The latter two accomplishments have come at a great cost that will tarnish Obama’s overall legacy, but I applaud his focus to get something meaningful done on climate change while a sizable portion of our electorate allows itself to be herded like fearful sheep into single-focused rage against brown people.