Obama swipes at Trump for ‘four years of active hostility’

CNN :
Former President Barack Obama went to the international climate conference in Glasgow on Monday because climate envoy John Kerry knew the Biden administration needed help convincing the world America was actually serious about combating climate change.
But as much as Obama expressed regret for former President Donald Trump’s “four years of active hostility towards climate science” and the climate denialism which defines the modern Republican Party, he expressed a deeper, broader worry that politics all over the world is falling short of what needs to be done to save the planet.
“I recognize that we’re living in a moment when international cooperation has atrophied-in part because of the pandemic, in part because of the rise of nationalism and tribal impulses around the world, in part because of a lack of leadership on America’s part for four years on a host of multilateral issues,” Obama said.
Obama’s speech came a week after President Joe Biden’s own appearance at the conference, during which he explicitly apologized for Trump’s abandonment of the Paris climate accords. And it came amid major international doubts that Biden, Congress or America is actually serious about climate change, no matter what Obama said.
Reality check: Here's what the COP26 deals actually mean for our future climate
Reality check: Here’s what the COP26 deals actually mean for our future climate
Obama said that the US is reengaging with the world on climate, and he sought to convince the world that the US has stayed on track, even during the Trump years, as questions persist at the conference over how the US plans to make up for lost time.
“Of course, back in the United States, some of our progress stalled when my successor decided to unilaterally pull out of the Paris Agreement in his first year in office. I wasn’t real happy about that,” Obama said.
But he said these lost years are not reason to lose faith in the power of what global cooperation can achieve, or even in the US’ commitment to climate. Despite Trump, Obama said, “the American people met our original commitment under the Paris Agreement.”
“Not only that, but the rest of the world stayed in the deal. And now with President Biden and his administration rejoining the agreement, the US government is once again engaged and prepared to take a leadership role.”
The former President pleaded that climate change should be the one issue which transcends politics. And Obama said he has his own doubts this is possible, which he tries to fight back.
“We are nowhere near where we need to be yet. For starters, despite the progress that Paris represented, most countries have failed to meet the action plans they set six years ago,” he said.
“As I’m sure is true for all of you, there are times when I feel discouraged, when the future seems bleak, and I am doubtful that humanity can get its act together before it’s too late,” Obama said “And images of dystopia start creeping into my dreams. And yet, whenever I feel such despondency, I remind myself that cynicism is the recourse of cowards. We can’t afford hopelessness.”
Obama’s appearance at an international conference is already an unusual move for a former president, as is his public criticism of “my successor”-the closest Obama came to saying Trump’s name. Also unusual is his criticism of current foreign leaders, as he called out Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for skipping the COP 26 entirely. He called that decision “particularly discouraging,” adding “their national plans reflect what appears to be a dangerous absence of urgency, a willingness to maintain the status quo, on the part of both those countries.”
Addressing the younger people in the audience, Obama said “you’re right to be frustrated.”