Obama Meets With Gore

The news of the arrest of Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich for corruption and rank stupidity stole the thunder from a meeting today on global warming and energy policy between President-elect Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore:

Mr. Obama, seated between Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mr. Gore, repeated his declaration that the United States can no longer afford delay or denial in confronting the climate challenge. “We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way,” Mr. Obama said. “That is what I intend my administration to do.”

Mr. Obama also adopted a term popularized by Mr. Gore, saying that it was necessary to “repower” the country, by shifting quickly to renewable sources of energy and creating a modern electrical grid to move power efficiently from one part of the country to another. Last summer, Mr. Gore issued a challenge to the United States to produce 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, a project he calls the Repower America Initiative. Mr. Obama has not explicitly endorsed that goal, but he has said that he intends to devote billions of dollars to so-called green energy projects that will create jobs and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.