Deafening Silence On Keystone, Climate Turning Off Obama Allies: OFA "Just Wants Us To Be Soldiers"

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The Obama world’s split on Keystone is so deep that it even divides White House aides who’ve left the administration. Formers deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton, deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, White House special assistant Jim Papa, and Obama fundraiser Paul Tewes are all working as consultants for opponents of the project, including the League of Conservation Voters.

Meanwhile, TransCanada is a client at the firm of one-time White House communications director Anita Dunn. Others close to the president, including longtime Democratic Party donors, have organized a campaign to fight the pipeline. In recent weeks, they’ve begun confronting Obama at every fundraiser he’s attended across the country.

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Having taken itself out of the Keystone debate, OFA has sought to keep the loyalty of climate-focused activists by targeting Republican lawmakers who question the science behind climate change. “Unicorns exist,” was the subject line of a May 7 e-mail from Frishberg to OFA supporters. The group announced it would devote its resources to “calling out” climate deniers. It unveiled a Web page, complete with an interactive map of U.S. representatives, that chronicles statements lawmakers have made questioning whether climate change is real.

Ken Denson, an OFA volunteer in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri, said he and two dozen others protested May 29 outside the district office of Republican Representative Ann Wagner, who has said the science on climate change is “unsettled.” He said the value of OFA’s deniers campaign is that “it forces the issue and gets publicity.”

Denson, a longtime environmental activist, said he is following OFA’s “party line” of not discussing Keystone even though he is “extremely opposed” to the pipeline. “I’m just going to wait and see what happens,” he said. Yet some Obama supporters are puzzled by OFA’s approach. “It’s stupid to be a climate denier. It’s even more stupid to spend your time calling out stupid people,” said Robert Robinson, who has attended two OFA planning sessions and is a former political organizer.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-17/obama-s-keystone-silence-is-driving-green-activists-away.html