Beware of politicians looking for a legacy—especially when they try to buy it with your tax dollars.
President Obama will soon head to Paris for a climate change confab, where he hopes to get a standing ovation for leading the fight against fossil fuels—and he might just get it.
He will argue that he has imposed countless new regulations to handcuff the energy industry—“regulations” instead of new laws because he has little congressional support for his environmental agenda, even among Democrats.
Cue the applause.
He will claim that he has ladled out—though he will probably use the word “invested”—hundreds of billions of dollars to green energy projects, and that his largess with taxpayer money has made a remarkable difference. (Hey, it helped him get reelected, didn’t it?)
Cue even more applause.
He will also assert that he demonstrated his green leadership by vetoing the Keystone XL pipeline, which his own State Department said would create 42,000 jobs, grow the economy and wouldn’t contribute additional environmental harm.
Huge applause and cheers from the audience.
And then he will likely say what the vast majority of delegates really came to hear: That the major developed economies will have to help developing countries cope with climate change. Translation: Obama will push both Congress and other countries to become an open cash register to nearly every developing country.
Cue the standing ovation.
In 2009 then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised that the United States would help raise $100 billion annually by 2020 to help poor countries deal with the supposed impact of climate change. All of a sudden developing countries that were losing interest in the topic saw climate change as the global community’s number one issue.
But they will only stay interested if the developed economies actually start shelling out taxpayer dollars. As London’s The Guardian explains, “Many developing countries have indicated that their commitments to cut emissions are conditional on support from wealthy nations.” Well, at least they’re willing to admit what’s important to them.
In Paris, those countries will be looking for a financial progress report, but the news isn’t good. Turns out it’s a lot easier promising $100 billion annually than actually raising it, especially if you don’t have to come up with the cash for several more years.
The New York Times quotes Secretary of State John Kerry as saying, “We are well on our way to achieving this $100 billion goal.”
But don’t hold your breath. The Guardian says the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which is supposed to take the donations and pay the bribes, er, disperse the funds to developing countries, has only received pledges for $10.2 billion.
As for Obama’s promise to hand over $3 billion last year, well, it’s every bit as good as his promise that “if you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance.” The Republican-led House and Senate haven’t released those funds, and they plan to fight Obama’s effort to hand out any taxpayer dollars for this purpose.
And so Obama will go to Paris with his hands as empty as his promises. The crowds will cheer his efforts to cross the fossil fuel industry, but jeer his inability to cross their palms.
When the multi-day hug-fest is over the delegates will congratulate themselves for their accomplishments and return to their capitols with a renewed commitment—not to the environment, but to getting their hands on all of that taxpayer money Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama promised.