Environmental groups in the US expect that Barack Obama will use hisstate of the union address to re-set the politics of climate change.
In a soaring inaugural speech, Obama defined the climate crisis as a moral issue for the generations. For his follow-up act, the president must persuade Americans that climate change is a clear and present threat to their daily lives and their livelihoods, requiring action now, said Paul Bledsoe, who directed the White House climate change taskforce under Bill Clinton.
"I think he has to frame climate change as an issue here, now, and as a threat. I think he has to frame it as a domestic issue – not a global issue," he said. "The challenge is to frame climate change as an issue with large costs that are only going to grow. That is his biggest opportunity. That is what he has to do."
The bigger task for Obama on Tuesday night will be to reframe climate change as a crisis in the present day and not decades away, environmental groups said.
He needs to remind Americans that drought, which affected 65% of the country last summer, and extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy, cost Americans billions last year. Dealing with the climate crisis will be costly and may require sacrifices, Obama is expected to say, but there is no other choice.
Even so, Fri said Tuesday night's speech could be the beginning of a new level of commitment from Obama to dealing with climate change. "If he puts his backing behind what the agencies can do with the existing tools, and provides them with political cover to get the ball rolling, that would certainly be a good thing," he said. "And that much I think is very likely to happen."
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