The Denver Post reports:
Frustrated by a recalcitrant Congress, President Barack Obama has vowed to take climate change into his own hands. Now he has to deliver.
Three weeks after giving an ambitious speech to outline his proposal, the president begins the arduous task of executing it. Obama’s plan is a complicated mix of rule-making and federal permitting that’s tough to encapsulate in a neat sales pitch—and may be even tougher to put into action.
By pledging to use his authority under existing laws, Obama freed himself from the need to sell the plan to skeptical lawmakers whose support he would need if he had to push a major climate change bill through Congress. Even so, he still needs public support to help shield vulnerable Democrats already facing criticism over the plan; their fate in the 2014 elections will determine whether Obama can accomplish much of anything during his final two years.
“While he can do some stuff on his own, he can’t do others,” said Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager. “Congress needs to act on some of these things.” Messina is now chairman of Organizing for Action, the group formed from Obama’s campaign to advocate for the president’s agenda.
One plan would simply be to mess things up however possible. Is that the plan?
Lack of action on the part of Congress hasn’t stopped Obama before from carrying out his illegal actions.