Will: I agree. He had to weigh difficult options, including a significant portion of the base that was focused on health care more than climate.
In addition to what you said regarding the Senate, Sen. McCain was in the process of changing sides on the climate issue as a result of his personal reaction to the loss in the Presidential election. Anything less than full McCain leadership on the Republican Side would likely had led to slightly fewer votes to overcome the filibuster. Also, Sen. Warner, Republican of Virginia, retired in 2008. He had co-sponsored one of the Senate climate bills. His retirement removed a strong Republic proponent of Senate passage, which lessoned chances of overcoming a filibuster. So while we can never know if a domestic bill would have passed in 2009, it is unlikely. History may judge Obama negatively, even harshly, for not understanding the profound impacts of climate change soon enough and acting accordingly but he will fare far better than his processors on both sides of the aisle, especially given the large subsidies for wind and solar in the original stimulus bill (which accelerated the changing economics of clean power in the US) and other programs, including the clean power plan if it survives ===================================== David Downie Politics and Environmental Studies Fairfield University From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Wil Burns Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 10:39 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Cc: Schreurs, Miranda; [email protected] Subject: RE: [gep-ed] good article on Obama and climate change I’d say Obama was eminently wise at the time. The Senate climate bill was dead on arrival given the inevitable use of the filibuster by Republicans, especially since there were a couple of blue dog Democrats who were going to vote against the bill also for sure. Should Obama had lost this high-profile battle early in his presidency, it would have made it much more difficult to win other battles, including securing passage of the ACA. By contrast, the ACA was structured in such a way that it wasn’t subject to the filibuster. I suspect Obama decided that it was thus judicious to try to win this battle first, and try to build up some political capital. The administration was also, simultaneously, drafting the rules for the Clean Power Plan, which his administration could implement without Congressional blockage. wil Dr. Wil Burns Co-Executive Director, Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment School of International Service, American University 2650 Haste Street, Towle Hall #G07 Berkeley, CA 94720 650.281.9126 (Phone) http://www.dcgeoconsortium.org<http://www.dcgeoconsortium.org/> [cid:[email protected]] Blog: Teaching Climate/Energy Law & Policy, http://www.teachingclimatelaw.org<http://www.teachingclimatelaw.org/> Twitter: https://twitter.com/wil_burns Skype ID: Wil.Burns View my research on my SSRN Author page: http://ssrn.com/author=240348 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Eduardo Viola Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 6:58 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: Schreurs, Miranda <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>; [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [gep-ed] good article on Obama and climate change Excellent article and video! But there is no reflection about what happened between June and September 2009. How wise was Obama in giving priority to Obamacare over the battle for the climate change bill in the Senate that had already passed in the House? Best, Eduardo Viola Eduardo Viola, PhD Professor Titular - Full Professor IREL - Institute of International Relations UnB - University of Brasilia C.P. 04306 70904-970, Brasília D.F. Brazil E-mail: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Pesquisador 1B do CNPq Currículo Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/2685286492991791 Internet: http://www.irel.unb.br Google Scholar Citations: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NVRS_VcAAAAJ&hl=en [https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B07u8J16a6fxNExodlRJQy11aVU&revid=0B07u8J16a6fxUStxMWVvelFwNm9sNHMvK0FVMlkzQ1cyUGs4PQ]www.twitter.com/eduardoviola<http://www.twitter.com/eduardoviola> 2016-09-11 23:22 GMT-03:00 Jonathan Rosenberg <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>: Yes, thanks Miranda. And the embedded video is the actual interview with Obama by the New York Times reporters. My environmental IPE class got a lot out of watching and discussing it. I would recommend it even more strongly for a comparative environmental politics class as it reveals a good deal about the vagaries of environmental policy in a federal state with a presidential system. Best, Jonathan On Sat, Sep 10, 2016 at 8:44 PM, Schreurs, Miranda <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Dear all, this NYTimes special does a great job of summarizing Obama’s climate policy and how it came about. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/us/politics/obama-climate-change.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=Science®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article Best, Miranda Schreurs Until September 30, 2016: Prof. Miranda Schreurs Director, Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU) Freie Universität Berlin Ihnestrasse 22 Berlin, 14195 Germany Tel +49 30 838 56654<tel:%2B49%2030%20838%2056654> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Starting October 1, 2016: Prof. Environment and Climate Policy Bavarian School of Public Policy/Hochschule für Politik Technical University of Munich Richard Wagner Strasse 1 80333 Munich, Germany Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Tel: 0049 (0) 89 907793220<tel:89%20907793220> website Deutsch: http://www.hfp.tum.de/startseite/ website English: http://www.hfp.tum.de/en/home/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Jonathan Rosenberg, PhD Professor of Political Science Chair, Department of Social Sciences Illinois Institute of Technology Siegel Hall 116E 3301 S. Dearborn St. Chicago, IL 60616 tel. 312-567-5188 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
