Barack Obama
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In Texas, audience boos Obama mention of border wall
During his major immigration speech this week in El Paso, Texas, President Obama mentioned the 640 mile long U.S.-Mexico border wall that has scarredthe Southwestern landscape and prevented migration of endangered species like jaguars, ocelots, and Sonoran pronghorn antelope. The speech is fascinating for two reasons: 1) it’s pretty clear (as if it weren’t already) […]
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Critical List: House Republicans demand offshore drilling; climate change eating away at food supply
The House voted yesterday to fast-track new offshore drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia. Look for $0.99 gas within a few weeks. As a group, the drilling bill's primary sponsors raked in more than $8.8 million in donations from the oil and gas industry. Climate change is […]
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Obama Has His First Opponent To Campaign Against: Extremism
In 2008, Americans were fed up. Wars, a terrible economy, dishonesty, a drift from our core beliefs. That November, Barack Obama said, “Change,” which may basically have meant, “Not that.” Not that direction for America. Not that economic policy. And it worked. America didn’t want that. America wanted something different. Now, reasonable people can debate […]
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Policy in an age of post-truth politics
Obama still doesn’t get it.Photo: White HouseAs Joe Romm noted the other day, Ezra Klein has an interesting column in WaPo making the case that, in terms of policy, Obama “is a moderate Republican of the early 1990s.” Putting aside the emergency measures responding to the economic crisis, Obama’s signature initiatives have been a health-care […]
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Ezra Klein: ‘Obama, based on his positions, is a moderate Republican of the early 1990s’
Klein writes, “as Democrats moved to the right to pick up Republican votes, Republicans moved to the right to oppose Democratic proposals.”Photo: The White HouseThe Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein has a terrific column that places the failed climate bill into the political context that has been missing from so much of the recent debate: If you put […]
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What mistakes did the progressive environmental community make in the climate bill fight?
The pro-action side made a number of mistakes, as I’ve said many times. Here are three: Failure to create a grassroots movement that could seriously cost an opposing politician (as, say, the NRA can). Messaging flaws, especially by Obama, who simply didn’t use the bully pulpit to make his case to the public. Inadequate Senate […]
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Washington is lying to you about the cause of high gas prices
When it comes to the causes of high prices for gasoline, Washington is reaching truly epic levels of mendacity. Last Thursday, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) aimed to "set the record straight on America's oil" in a Washington Post op-ed that was completely jam-packed with BS. Murkowski, along with countless other congresscritters on both sides of […]
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Silver Buckshot
Wars in the Middle East and oil rig blowouts in the Gulf have given us gasoline in the range of $4 to $5/gallon. Growing concerns over asthma-inducing pollution from coal fired power plants, not to mention mercury pollution in food supplies and greenhouse gas emissions, have resulted in the termination of numerous coal projects and […]
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Obama hosts Facebook town hall, because what could go wrong when you combine politics and Facebook?
Listen up, Facebook nation: Obama would like you to stop friending and unfriending each other for a second and pay attention. He's hosting a Facebook town hall today at 4:45 Eastern, in order to, you know, get down verbally with the youth. The subject is "Shared Responsibility and Shared Prosperity," which sounds like a great excuse to bring up questions about energy policy, sustainability, and the environment.
