Obama, God of Weather–and Lies

When he first ran for the presidency, Barack Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. On Tuesday, he claimed to have delivered on that promise, telling an audience in Maryland that his administration had prevented some of the severe weather impacts of climate change by restricting carbon dioxide emissions. Before he took office, he said, “[c]arbon pollution was going unchecked, which was having severe impacts on our weather.” He then announced he would pursue new fuel economy standards for trucks.

It is an odd claim, firstly because there is often no scientific link between severe weather and climate change models, and second because the president continues to cite severe weather as evidence of climate change. Just last week, President Obama tried to tie the California drought to climate change, even though scientists say there is no link. Furthermore, Obama’s claim about rising U.S. emissions is not even correct: emissions of carbon dioxide began falling under the George W. Bush administration–even as the U.S. economy grew.

Lower carbon emissions are being driven by the switch to natural gas–a development that is happening in spite of opposition and foot-dragging from the Obama administration and its environmentalist allies. So the increased efficiency of the U.S. economy has been achieved in spite of, not because of President Obama’s amazing powers over the weather. Presumably, there are large numbers of journalists who will believe his outrageous claims, demonstrating his superhuman ability to manipulate perceptions of the truth as well.