Obama Appoints a "True Believer"

I keep being disappointed by Obama. Here's a case where his administration is setting up a new centre to deal with climate questions. But rather than appoint somebody with a broad perspective and an inclusive viewpoint, he has appointed a "true believer" who already knows the answers before the questions have been fully formuated.

Here's a posting by Roger Pielke, Sr. that highlights the problem. Go read Pielke's post to get the links to the underlying documents:

The federal government of the United States has announced the establishment of a National Climate Service; e.g. see the NY Times article by Lauren Morello titled Agency Will Create National Climate Service to Spur Adaptation.

The article includes the text

“The Obama administration announced plans yesterday to create a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Service…..

Lubchenco [NOAA Administrator] said her agency already receives millions of requests each year for the type of information the proposed climate service would provide, “and we fully expect requests for information to grow explosively.”

“There is no question about the critical need for this service,” she said. “Climate change is real. It’s happening now in our own backyards and around the globe, and it’s beginning to touch nearly every aspect of our lives.”

The NOAA chief said climate change is already raising sea levels, lengthening growing seasons, prompting earlier spring snowmelts and shifts in river flows, causing more intense drought and increasing the incidence of extreme weather….

NCDC head Thomas Karl will serve as the climate service’s transitional director. NOAA also plans to create new positions for six regional climate service directors.”

The statements by Jane Lubchenco and the appointment of Tom Karl as the transitional director, assures that policymakers will continue to receive an inappropriately narrow view of our actual knowledge with respect to climate science. I have documented the biases of Tom Karl in a number of reports and weblog posts; e.g. see

Comment On Tom Karl’s Interview In The Washington Post

Erroneous Climate Science Statement By Tom Karl, Director Of The National Climate Data Center And President Of The American Meteorological Society

E-mail Documentation Of The Successful Attempt By Thomas Karl Director Of the U.S. National Climate Data Center To Suppress Biases and Uncertainties In the Assessment Surface Temperature Trends

The NOAA Administrator, in making the appointment of Tom Karl, has apparently not learned that the climate science community has a broader view of the issues and less confidence in the skill of the multi-decadal global and regional climate predictions than she does. By selecting Tom Karl, she has assured that this narrow viewpoint will be perpetuated within the new National Climate Service.

There was so much promise in 2008 as Obama generated excitement by promising a new kind of politics. But his administration is very, very disappointing to me. He is a centrist. Worse, he fails as a leader. I summarize my critique by calling him "the black Jimmy Carter". He's a nice guy, but an ineffectual leader, and a leader lacking in a vision to move America forward. He is vastly superior to the smirking, lying, right wing Bush. But Obama is not the answer to the crisis that has gripped America.