OBAMA DECRIES DENIERS OF CHANGING CLIMATE
Those who reject ‘the scientific evidence’ represent a ‘radical fringe’
Anaheim, Calif. — President Obama, appearing emboldened after his recent move to cut carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, on Saturday ridiculed members of Congress who deny climate change or plead scientific ignorance as an alibi for avoiding an inconvenient truth.
Obama likened those who deny climate change to people who would have told President John F. Kennedy, at the dawn of the space program, that the moon “was made of cheese.” He saved his most scathing words for lawmakers who say they are not qualified to judge the issue because they are not scientists.
“I’m not a scientist either,” Obama said “but we’ve got some good ones at NASA.” Story,
Anaheim, Calif. — President Barack Obama said denying climate change is like arguing the moon is made of cheese, as he issued a call to action on global warming to Saturday’s graduates of the University of California, Irvine.
Obama issued the call to the tens of thousands gathered at Angel Stadium even though he said Congress “is full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject the scientific evidence” and say climate change is a hoax or fad.
Obama said others duck the question.
“They say, ‘Hey, look, I’m not a scientist.’ And I’ll trans- late that for you: what that really means is, ‘I know that manmade climate change really is happening but if I admit it, I’ll be run out of town by a radical fringe that thinks climate science is a liberal plot,”’ he said.
Obama’s address to about 8,000 graduates from the Orange County campus comes two weeks after he announced a contentious plan to dramatically cut pollution from power plants. Obama also used the address to announce a $1 billion competitive fund for communities who have experienced natural disasters to rebuild and prepare for the impact of extreme weather.
He described a political system consumed by “small things” but said Americans should be determined to do “big things” like addressing climate change, despite the type of opposition he faces from Congress.
“There’s going to be a stubborn status quo and people determined to stymie your efforts to bring about change. There are going to be people who say you can’t do something. There are going to be people who say you shouldn’t bother trying. I’ve got some experience with this myself,” Obama said.
“It’s pretty rare that you’ll encounter somebody who says the problem you’re trying to solve simply doesn’t exist. When President Ken- nedy set us on a course to the moon, there were a number of people who made a serious case that it wouldn’t be worth it,” he continued.
“But nobody ignored the science. I don’t remember anybody saying the moon wasn’t there or that it was made of cheese,” Obama said.
The president said today’s young dreamers are fed a steady diet of cynicism but argued they have a right to be optimistic.
“Consider this: since the time most of you graduated from high school, fewer Americans are at war,” Obama said. “More have health insurance. More are graduating from college. Our businesses have added more than nine million new jobs. And the number of states where you’re free to marry who you love has more than doubled. That’s just some of the progress you’ve seen.”