While the most recent public polls on climate-change give a ho-hum response, Dr. Roy Spencer recently surmised that in the State of the Union Address tonight, President Obama will join the “everything is caused by global warming” club. He writes:
I predict that, despite the brutally cold weather in DC this Tuesday, Obama will preach on climate change in his State of the Union address. I predict he will even use the cold weather as evidence to support his case.
During his address it looks like there will be a wintry mix starting across the southern reaches of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and the Florida panhandle. I wouldn’t be surprised if he uses the event as evidence of human-caused climate change.
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For those of us old enough to remember, similar events happened back in the epic cold winters of the 1970s. Many instances of snow falling in Florida in the 1800s surely weren’t due to humans. Believe it or not, more snow tends to go with colder weather, not warmer. Go figure.
Sounds plausible, rational, and factually based. Of course, the SOTU is all about politics, so we’ll have none of that.
In other related news, that National Journal Reports:
Public to Obama, Congress: Climate Action Is No Big Deal This Year
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that 27 percent believe that addressing climate change should be an “absolute priority” in 2014.
Forty-one percent put the topic in the “can be delayed until next year” bucket, according to the poll conducted January 22-25 and released Tuesday.
In contrast, 91 percent say job creation should be a top priority, reducing the deficit comes in at 74 percent, and 63 percent say ensuring all children have access to preschool should be in the “absolute priority for this year” category.
A separate Pew Research Center poll finds that 29 percent of respondents want global warming to be a “top priority” for Obama and Congress this year, while 31 percent call it an “important but lower priority.”
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I won’t be able to listen to/watch the SOTU address, as I’m traveling today, so readers will have to dissect and post memorable quotes here for discussion.