Gore presses Obama to ‘follow through’ on climate change promises

President Obama "has to follow through" on his commitment to address climate change, even if it means using executive powers to get around congressional gridlock, according to former Vice President Al Gore.

Obama should "move boldly" on the agenda he articulated in his second inaugural address, which included strong words about addressing climate change, Gore said in an interview on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS."

While efforts to tackle climate change would run into GOP opposition in Congress, Gore said the president had ample powers to bear from the executive branch in addressing the issue.

"There are some actions he can take that do not require congressional approval," he said. "There is a law on the books that requires the EPA to regulate pollution. The Supreme Court has agreed with the obvious interpretation that global warming pollution is pollution. It's been applied to new coal plants. It should be applied to all facilities."

After taking his oath of office for a second term, Obama vowed the U.S. would "respond to the threat of climate change," and jabbed at climate skeptics blocking such efforts.

"Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms," he said. "The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it."

Gore said he believes Obama has found a "new firmness" entering his second term when it comes to dealing with GOP opposition, which made itself evident during his standoff over the "fiscal cliff" at the end of 2012.

"I think that he's learned a great deal during his first term. I don't want to sound patronizing in saying that. I've learned a great deal from watching his first term," he said. "But I think that you already see a greater depth and sophistication in his approach."

Accompanying Obama's new resolve is a "wariness" by Republicans to stand in the way of all his efforts, he argued.

"There is a new awareness, that the American people don't want gridlock. They don't want sclerosis," he said. "They don't want this hyper-partisanship."

On other issues, Gore said that the influx of corporate money into the political process has "functionally corrupted" democracy, and called for comprehensive campaign finance reform.

"The Congress now finds it virtually impossible to pass any kind of reform unless they first get permission from the special interests who are most involved with the issue involved and who finance their campaign," he said. "And that's pitiful."

Gore also defended the sale of his TV news network, Current TV, to Al Jazeera America. He called the new owners a "highly respected international news gathering organization."

"I think the net result, it's going to be very positive for the American media landscape," he said.

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Undeterred By Court Order, Iowa Official Tries Again To Push Through Voter Purge

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz

When Secretary of State Matt Schultz attempted to purge voters from the rolls in advance of the November 2012 election, a county judge temporarily blocked the move, finding that the rules issued by Schultz created fear and uncertainty and could deter legitimate voters. But that risk of voter suppression hasn’t stopped Schultz from proposing a new slightly tweaked rule to remove registered voters in the name of alleged voter fraud.

The rule would allow Schultz’s office to challenge the legitimacy of registered voters who are listed as noncitizens in the Department of Transportation database. Citing a DOT list of some 3,000 registered voters labeled noncitizens, Schultz said, “I have to do something. I can’t just sit back and do nothing when we know people are taking advantage of the system.”

But Schultz’s testimony just last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee shows that he doesn’t know people are taking advantage of the system. When probed by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) for evidence of voter fraud, Schultz cited just six arrests — not convictions – out of 1.6 million votes cast. And this was after a special agent was designated to specifically target voter fraud.

As for the list of 3,000 people, that claim was easily dismissed by the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund’s Nina Perales during the same hearing:

Secretary Schultz … said he had identified 3,500 noncitizens using the driver’s license rolls. He did not. He identified 3,500 people who were noncitizens at the time that they obtained their driver’s licenses. And we know that since that time and before they registered to vote, the overwhelming majority and perhaps all of them have become naturalized citizens. So at this point, anyone who undertakes to accuse people of non-citizenship based on driver’s licenses should be on notice that this is not correct and should not be done. It’s fundamentally unfair.

Attempts to prove voter fraud nationwide have fallen similarly short, with less than 20 instances of fraud charges offered in most states. Florida GOP officials have even publicly admitted voter suppression was the goal of that state’s aggressive and inaccurate purge.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are also arguing that Schultz cannot implement a purge without going through the state legislature. The ruling that blocked Schultz’s last attempt said that, at the very least, Schultz should have gone through the proper rulemaking procedure that allows for public input instead of going forward on his own. Schultz is now going through that procedure, but the court could still hold this process insufficient.

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