President Barack Obama is working to elevate climate change as an issue in the 2016 U.S. election “simply by talking about the issue,” hoping that “GOP contenders will loudly oppose whatever he is proposing,” reports Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent.
Sargent said he hoped Obama’s emphasis on climate, most recently on its implications for national and international security, would capture the attention of the Hillary Clinton campaign in its attempt to differentiate its candidate from Republican contenders. “There are no signs yet that climate advocates have succeeded in turning it into a motivating issue,” he writes, unlike gay rights and immigration activists who can help mobilize Democrats’ core vote. “But I suspect Camp Clinton believes the contrast on climate change can benefit her in a general election, too, albeit perhaps not as directly.”
Clinton “has pledged to defend Obama’s climate actions, which include ambitious rules to curb carbon emissions from existing power plants, and possibly a global climate deal in which major countries pledge to curb emissions,” Sargent says. “The 2016 GOP hopefuls will have to oppose all this.”
