I got an email today asking me to "answer a short, voluntary survey that will help us improve the White House online program and create more content that people find interesting."
The second question on the survey was What issue(s) are most important to you?: There were thirteen boxes one could check; and not one of them was Global Warming. In fact, there was not even a box for the Environment -- though there was one for Energy.
I was appalled, and complained when answering another question later in the survey. But thinking it over, I have to admit that I deserve some blame for the White House's attitude.
I suspect there are other Kossacks like me; and I think that the time has come when we have to do something about it.
The White House did ask about issues most of us care a lot about. And faced with so many big issues, I think most of us have chosen to focus on just a few, leaving other issues to people who are more concerned about them.
That is all well and good, unless some issues become "orphans" because everyone assumes that someone else is taking care of them. Obviously, Climate Change is not a completely orphaned issue; it has dedicated, highly capable "parents." Nonetheless, the fact that the White House seems to assume that most Americans are not interested in the issue suggests that more of the "extended family" of progressives should be focusing on Climate Change.
With all the communication it gets, and this administration's sophisticated use of social media and data, we can safely assume that the Obama White House has a good sense of what issues seem most urgent to the American people. So it is particularly disturbing that the White House seems to believe that relatively few Americans are worried about Climate Change.
You can see this at the White House site, where Climate is not mentioned on the opening page. Even on the linked Energy & Environment page, Climate change takes second place to energy. This is the most prominent photo, right at the top.
I've never been an ardent environmentalist; other issues are my "children." However, I know enough about Global Warming to know that if humankind does not act soon to stop global warming, all the other things we care about won't matter.
I don't know the best way to go about it, but I really believe that the Daily Kos community should rally its considerable forces and make sure that the President -- and every other official in Washington -- stops thinking that they can ignore Global Warming, because few voters care about it.