On #climatechange this time, Jon Chait has his neoliberal head up his ass and Dear Leader's

I've come to loathe Chait, possibly to the degree Ken Silverstein loathes Nick Kristof, since, a few years ago, the degree of Chait's in-the-tank Obamiac-dom became apparent.

I've little doubt that Chait's Pollyanna tome on how "winning the war against climate change is just around the corner" has a fair amount to do with Dear Leader still being in office.

First, yes, greenhouse gases were flat in 2014. But, projecting a one-year trend into the future is nonsense. Chait either does know that, or should.

Related to that, as of September 2014, GHGs were projected to increase. It's possible that the Chinese recession was already starting last year, and that's why they didn't increase. Chait doesn't consider that possibility.

Second, he talks about "China this" and "China that." The non-Western world includes more than China, notably India. Indeed, per the third link, India's rate of increase in 2013 was higher than China's.

Third, China may not add 18 gigawatts of solar this year, do to the recession.

Fourth, the only mutually reinforcing treaty, or similar, is a carbon tax plus carbon tariff. If we do it first, China has to play ball. If China does it first, we have to play ball (with a tariff on our agricultural exports, primarily). And, Dear Leader has never come even close to talking about a carbon tax. That's in part because he has no cojones, and in part because a tax, and/or a tariff, would not be a "market based solution."

Fifth, promises have been made at climate conferences for 20 years and more now. If Chait really thinks promises this year will become reality, he'll probably sell you on the idea that Dear Leader will give post-presidential speeches for free.

Related to that, it's not just conservatives who scorned the U.S.-China agreement on climate change; see this blog post by yours truly. Or, in relation to the nanny-state scolding that Obama likes to engage in, I tackle that issue and how Obama wants to use it on climate change here.

Sixth, speaking of Dear Leader again, Chait talks about his trip to Alaska while ignoring his permitting of drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

Seventh, Chait's wrong for singling out U.S. conservatives. See "Harper, Stephen" and "Conservative Party, Canada."

As for Chait? I've called him a fellator of Obama (after previously calling him a fellator of Obama before that). I've then called him out as NOT a member of "the reality-based community."

Because New York magazine has continually and repeatedly blown massive money on his sorry ass, and yet doesn't have a paywall, I've put the "no follow" tag on the story. No need to reward their pageview count for analytics.