December 27, 2010

Let's hope Mr. Hope and Change doesn't take credit for it.

On June 3rd, 2008, the evening he won the Democratic Party's nomination for president, Barack Obama identified the time of his nomination as the day that global warming started to end.

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."

Yes, he did say that (at 27:04 here). Set aside the ego, and consider the possibility that President Obama is both lucky and opportunistic.  When he ran for President the turning point in defeating John McCain who had begun to close the polling gap was the economic meltdown and Obama's cool response to the crisis compared to McCain's odd response. Circumstances and an opportunistic response worked in his favor.  Similarly in defeating Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for President, he was very opportunistic and had a lot of breaks go his way as well.  Granted, he has not always been as opportunistic as he could be, like with the Gulf oil spill, but he is an opportunist.  But that isn't of great consequence when luck is on his side.  Indeed, either factor alone can be enough at times.  But both working together can be an unbeatable combination.


As many have pointed out (myself included), the President has been provided a great opportunity with a congressional defeat bloodbath for Democrats last month. He now has a not only a foil for the next election to pacify the left, he can use his diminished power to mollify the 'moderates' by proclaiming his ability to work together - to be post-partisan (finally).  In fact, he can perhaps even sway a few of those on the right into thinking he's doing what Bill Clinton supposedly did after 1994 - drifting back to the center.  Of course in both cases it was/is out of necessity, not desire.  Nevertheless, the threat to President Obama is also an opportunity.  It works in his favor if he is opportunistic enough to take advantage of it.  You know he will be.

It's also likely with a Republican party leading things (hopefully forcefully) away from the failed Keynesian direction of the last two years, some real progress will be made on unemployment.  Perhaps even on fiscal responsibility in government too.  If someone were President, and opportunistic enough perhaps they might claim credit for that turnaround.

Believe it or not, that's not what I'm writing about today.  I'm talking about that ego-maniacal sentence in the open paragraph above.

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."

There's a snowstorm that caused the Minnesota Vikings to have to play outdoors because the Metrodome roof collapsed due to the enormous amount of snow.  In Europe numerous flights have been cancelled because freezing temperatures, snow and ice. Severe weather paralysed the continent's transport network.  It sure doesn't seem like global warming, now dubbed climate change for obvious reasons, is heating our planet uncontrollably. When you turn on an oven there aren't sudden unexpected bursts of excessive coolness as the oven heats up.

What's really going on? Some scientists, including noted long range forecaster Piers Corbyn, believe a mini ice age is coming. Really. He happens to believe our climate is dominated not by us, but by the sun. What a novel idea.



He's not a crackpot.  He's not alone (give that one a few extra moments to load - it's worth the watch). At No Trick Zone, there's a great article about the coming global cooling.  It's also definitely worth the read.

The point is, in the bigger picture, Mr. Hope and Change, may try to make the claim down the road that it was he who stopped the rising of the oceans and re-froze all the ice.  It was he alone who healed the planet.  Perhaps after the health care bill gets reversed or just fades away into oblivion due to lack of funding, it might be all he has left to hang his hat on.  That and Sotomayor.  So if the planet cools because of changing solar conditions, maybe, just maybe, the luck and the opportunism might be able to shape another inaccurate legacy for Mr. Obama. I don't want to hope he doesn't try to take credit for it.  I know he will.  But unlike in his election, if enough people try to set the record straight on Obama before the events occur, maybe he won't be able to steal the credit for the oceans stopping their rise. He can't say it for the debt and certainly not the oceans.

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