President Obama’s use of inauguration speech time to tout greenhouse gas emission policy may have distanced some event-goers. But as far as world opinion goes, Mr. Obama was golden.
“Great strong words on climate,” Connie Hedegaard, the European Union’s climate commissioner commented, via Twitter response to Mr. Obama’s remarks. “The U.S. president could not commit stronger to delivering now.”
Australia’s prime minister praised Mr. Obama to reporters, saying the president was “very forthright about the need to tackle climate change,” according to a Reuters report.
Mr. Obama dedicated a full minute of his nearly 20-minute speech to climate change, saying that a failure to act would “betray our children and future generations,” and that “American must lead” in the global push to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
He also said that climate change legislation and sustainable energy policy are “how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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