This revelation, as reported on CommonDreams in "Obama's First Rule About 'Climate Change': Don't Say 'Climate Change'" citing an article in The Guardian, makes for "interesting" reading in the light of Hurricane Sandy. Most informed commentary and experts say, quite definitively, that the hurricane was a by-product of climate change. However, as detailed below, the White House wasn't going to go anywhere near climate change as a topic for discussion. Not sexy enough?
"Before Hurricane Sandy, before the presidential debates—even before Barack Obama knew he would be facing off against Mitt Romney in his reelection campaign—his administration made a key strategic decision regarding climate change that speaks volumes about how major political operatives have decided to deal with, or this case not deal with, the reality of climate change.
As new reporting by The Guardian's environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg illustrates, the Obama campaign made one thing very clear to select green groups at a private, off-the-record briefing in 2009: "climate change was not a winning message."
"What was communicated in the presentation was: 'This is what you talk about, and don't talk about climate change'," Betsy Taylor, president of Breakthrough Strategies and Solutions, told The Guardian about the meeting. "I took away an absolutely clear understanding that we should focus on clean energy jobs and the potential of a clean energy economy rather than the threat of climate change."
"Before Hurricane Sandy, before the presidential debates—even before Barack Obama knew he would be facing off against Mitt Romney in his reelection campaign—his administration made a key strategic decision regarding climate change that speaks volumes about how major political operatives have decided to deal with, or this case not deal with, the reality of climate change.
As new reporting by The Guardian's environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg illustrates, the Obama campaign made one thing very clear to select green groups at a private, off-the-record briefing in 2009: "climate change was not a winning message."
"What was communicated in the presentation was: 'This is what you talk about, and don't talk about climate change'," Betsy Taylor, president of Breakthrough Strategies and Solutions, told The Guardian about the meeting. "I took away an absolutely clear understanding that we should focus on clean energy jobs and the potential of a clean energy economy rather than the threat of climate change."
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