Has Anyone in U.S. History Made More Americans Less Safe Than Dick Cheney?

By Joseph Romm, Climate Progress. Posted May 11, 2009.

Back in March, Darth Vader former Vice President Dick Cheney said Americans are "less safe" now thanks to President Barack Obama and his policies.  He repeated and expanded on the charge yesterday on Face the Nation.

Let's set aside the fact that if a President's actions and policies in his first 100 days make him 100% responsible for any attack on this nation, than Bush and Cheney are 100% responsible for 9/11.

Terrorism is a real threat to Americans.  But it pales in comparison to the scale and scope of the threat posed by unrestricted emissions of greenhouse gases.  In the words of IPCC head R.K. Pachauri -- who was essentially hand-picked by Cheney himself to replace the "alarmist" Bob Watson:

The cities, power plants and factories we build in the next seven years will shape our climate in mid-century. We have to act now to price carbon and create incentives to change the way we use energy and spread technology -- and thereby avert nothing less than an existential threat to civilization.

As the uber-centrist Brookings Institution put it in a pre-election op-ed:

Today's adults, even if they will not be around at mid-century, must think about the fate of their children and grandchildren. Obama can look to his two daughters, and McCain to his four grandchildren. They are among nearly 75 million Americans -- and 2.2 billion people worldwide -- younger than 18. That generation will be in its 40s or 50s when one of two things happens: Either the temperature of the planet warms more than 4.5 degrees and vast regions slide toward being uninhabitable, or the wisdom of the next president and his fellow leaders around the world pays off in the ultimate reward -- survival.

Global warming is the only true preventable existential threat to the health and well-being -- the security and safety -- of Americans.

So I repeat the headline question -- has anyone in U.S. history made more Americans less safe than Dick Cheney?

Remember, President Bush campaigned on regulating carbon dioxide emissions from electric utilities.  Dick Cheney is the person who killed that.  Indeed, it is doubtful that Bush had particularly strong opinions on any major energy or environmental issue.  Cheney after all is the one who put together Bush's entire energy plan.

Cheney led the effort to block all EPA action on climate and censor U.S. scientists from even telling the American public about the dangers posed by global warming as the Center for American Progress Action Fund detailed in a report (see "Dick Cheney didn't get memo on shifting from denial to delay"):

Last October, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee about the "Human Impacts of Global Warming." Gerberding told the committee that global warming "is anticipated to have a broad range of impacts on the health of Americans," but she gave few specifics, instead focusing on the CDC's current preparation plans. Soon after Gerberding delivered her testimony, CDC officials revealed that the White House had "eviscerated" her testimony by editing it down from 14 pages to four….   In a letter responding to questions by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) yesterday, former EPA official Jason Burnett revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the Council on Environmental Quality pushed to "remove from the testimony any discussion of the human health consequences of climate change."

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