The Re-elected Obama Fails His First Green Test

Barry Obama has signed a law that prohibits US airlines from taking part in the EU emissions trading scheme’s Green Flying Tax, which is a big disappointment to all those Greens naive enough to believe Obama would be the Great Green Messiah in his second term

The Greens and environmentalists were expecting great Green things from Obama in his second term, especially after he mentioned Climate Change in his victory speech.

The problem is there can often be a huge gap between expectations and actuality:

Barack Obama has signed a law excluding US airlines from the European Union’s carbon trading scheme, delivering a blow to campaigners’ hopes for stronger climate action during the president’s second term.

Environmental campaigners had urged Obama to veto the aviation bill as a sign of his commitment to fighting climate change in his second term.

The White House said in a statement Obama still saw climate change as a priority but that he disagreed with subjecting US and other foreign airlines to the EU emissions trading scheme.

Interesting choice of words “Obama still saw climate change as a priority“, very past tense, surely if Obama were serious he would still see climate change as priority.

But the move was disappointing to European officials and to campaigners in the US who had urged Obama to veto the bill.

After winning re-election Obama listed climate change as one of the three main challenges facing the country. Campaigners had hoped he would make the fight against climate change part of his legacy.

The World Wildlife Fund said it was disappointed the bill had passed. “However, there is a silver lining here – the administration has appointed high-level representatives to pursue a global solution for aviation and climate,” WWF said.

Connie Hedegaard, the EU’s climate commissioner, tweeted: “Aviation ETS: So far the re-elected Pres. #Obama #climate policies look EXACTLY as in first term. Wonder when we’ll see the announced change?“

The answer Comrade Connie is not anytime soon.

Much has been written by the ecomentalists about their hopes for Obama and how in his second term he is free to act on the AGW boondoggle because Obama does not have to worry about re-election in 2016.

As usual this is the sort of typical naive thinking the Greens revel in, it is true Obama cannot stand for President in 2016, but Obama is a member of the Democrats and the Democrats want another Democrat in the White House in 2016.

Any potential Democrat candidate will largely be standing on Obama’s record as President in their election campaign, and like it or not, crippling a country’s economy to appeal to the evangelists of a dying fad does not win votes, and squally importantly, the Republicans still control the House of Representatives so Obama is no more able to get his policies into law than he was prior to the Presidential election.