The cast of CNN’s Inside Politics reacted to President Biden’s interview with The Weather Channel on Wednesday by claiming that “he’s kind of centrist” on environmental matters while also fact-checking him from the left.
Speaking about the part of the interview where Biden was asked if he plans to declare climate change a national emergency and his response that he already has, White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond reported, “And now the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, she said that the president was referring to the Defense Production Act and authorities he invoked under that to spur clean energy manufacturing of solar panels, for example.”
He then sought to rebut Jean-Pierre:
But a national emergency would invoke a whole set of different authorities, including restricting exports, for example, of oil and also giving the president the power to stop some oil drilling on federal lands. Now, climate activists, many of them have been calling on the president to do just that. He has talked about the possibility, but he hasn’t yet. We should note, of course, that the president has also been endorsed by a series of other climate change groups that support what he's been doing on this issue, Dana.
CNN’s resident fact-checker Daniel Dale hasn’t mange to fact-check Biden since June 21, but when an opportunity to hit him from the left presents itself, CNN can do so on the same day.
After Diamond’s report, host Dana Bash turned to the panel and exclaimed:
You know, I thought that was very interesting that the president is obviously trying to lean into this issue. That's why he's out west doing an interview on The Weather Channel and what he said, yes, ‘practically speaking,’ he obviously wants to do a lot, but it's complicated because, yes, if you declare a national emergency, some things will happen, but it also could be detrimental in other ways, potentially, potentially to some economic factors.
Senior political analyst Nia-Malika Henderson concurred and sated “that's always where Democrats have found themselves on this issue” which only proves the point that “You know, Biden, he's kind of a centrist when it comes to what he’s done on climate policy.”
Elaborating, Henderson continued:
He gives and he takes, right? There are things progressives have liked: the investments in clean energy, but then he’s sort of broke the promise on fossil fuels, so he’s out there trying to sell his record, particularly this is important to young voters and certainly progressive voters, folks he's going to need in November of 2024 if he want wants to keep staying in the White House.”
As Biden tells it, he didn’t break his promise, but was forced by the courts to continue certain policies. Yet, for the media, Republicans are right-wing crazies, but Democrats are mere centrists if they’re so much as just one tick to the right of people with think Greta Thunberg is a serious person.
This segment was sponsored by Wayfair.
Here is a transcript for the August 9 show:
CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash
8/9/2023
12:27 PM ET
JEREMY DIAMOND: And now the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, she said that the president was referring to the Defense Production Act and authorities he invoked under that to spur clean energy manufacturing of solar panels, for example.
But a national emergency would invoke a whole set of different authorities, including restricting exports, for example, of oil and also giving the president the power to stop some oil drilling on federal lands. Now, climate activists, many of them have been calling on the president to do just that. He has talked about the possibility, but he hasn’t yet. We should note, of course, that the president has also been endorsed by a series of other climate change groups that support what he's been doing on this issue, Dana.
DANA BASH: And that’s really one of the key reasons why you're drawing attention to this, and obviously, that reporter asked the president about it is because of the lobbying by a lot of climate groups to do this because of what would happen, what that would unlock for the government to be able to do. Thank you so much for that reporting and putting it in context, Jeremy, appreciate it.
And our reporters are here as well. You know, I thought that was very interesting that the president is obviously trying to lean into this issue. That's why he's out west doing an interview on The Weather Channel and what he said, yes, "practically speaking," he obviously wants to do a lot, but it's complicated because, yes, if you declare a national emergency, some things will happen, but it also could be detrimental in other ways, potentially, potentially to some economic factors.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: That's right. And that's always where Democrats have found themselves on this issue. They’ve wanted to do more. They wanted to be more progressive, but sort of the economic reality and the political reality has often tied their hands. You know, Biden, he's kind of a centrist when it comes to what he’s done on climate policy. He gives and he takes, right? There are things progressives have liked: the investments in clean energy, but then he’s sort of broke the promise on fossil fuels, so he’s out there trying to sell his record, particularly this is important to young voters and certainly progressive voters, folks he's going to need in November of 2024 if he want wants to keep staying in the White House.
