Greenwire on Obama and Organizing for America’s Strategy to Morally Stigmatize Conservatives Who Dismiss Climate Change

Last week I spoke with Elana Schor of Greenwire about the Obama White House and Organizing for America’s strategy to pre-empt efforts by conservatives to undermine support for the proposed EPA limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The strategy marks an important shift in communication focus, as Obama and allies make the moral case for action on climate change and in the process morally stigmatize their opponents. For more background on this strategy, see this recently published book chapter with Ezra Markowitz and John Kotcher. Here’s an excerpt from Greenwire’s reporting on the strategy: Another Republican blasting the OFA campaign is Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a walking, talking symbol of fossil-fuel influence for most green activists, who began on Wednesday to investigate potential coordination between the Obama administration and the White House’s nonprofit cavalry (E&ENews PM, Aug. 14). “There’s no better measure of success than when you can get the chief climate denier in Congress to start throwing out conspiracy theories,” David DiMartino, a veteran Democratic aide turned strategist who worked closely on the cap-and-trade battle, said in an interview. “The reality is, he’s out of touch.” The urgency created by a response such as Inhofe’s probe aligns with the [...]