Politics of climate change

The Alpena (Mich.) News: During a visit to California earlier this year, President Barack Obama linked the lengthy drought there to climate change. “A changing climate means that weather-related disasters like droughts, wildfires, storms, floods are potentially going to be costlier and they’re going to be harsher,” he said.

But scientists, led by those in the federal government, say climate change had nothing to do with the Golden State drought. A report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lays the blame on natural variations in the weather — not climate change.

In fact, NOAA’s Martin Hoerling suggested the drought may be an argument against accepting some climate change predictions. Weather events in California for three winters are “not the conditions that climate change models say would happen,” he noted.

Will Obama heed the scientists he is so fond of claiming support his climate change agenda? Don’t bet on it — because for Obama, it is the politics that are really settled.