Excerpt
Former Vice President Al Gore harshly criticizes President Obama for lack of leadership on climate change in a magazine essay published online Wednesday, saying that he had barely moved American policy on global warming since assuming the presidency from George W. Bush.
In the 7,000-word article in Rolling Stone, Mr. Gore says that Mr. Obama clearly understands the threat to the planet posed by global warming and that he has appointed a number of qualified and committed advocates to key positions.
But Mr. Gore charges that in the face of well-financed attacks from fossil fuel industries and denial and delay from Republicans in Congress, Mr. Obama has failed to act decisively to alter the nation’s policies on climate change and energy.
Addressing climate change on a national and international level will require forceful American leadership, Mr. Gore says.
“Yet President Obama has never presented to the American people the magnitude of the climate crisis,” Mr. Gore writes. “He has simply not made the case for action. He has not defended the science against the ongoing, withering and dishonest attacks. Nor has he provided a presidential venue for the scientific community — including our own National Academy — to bring the reality of the science before the public.”
The White House had no immediate official response to Mr. Gore’s comments, but one aide noted that much of the article was devoted to criticism of the media and the Congress and that it was not solely aimed at Mr. Obama.
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