Obama ridicules climate-change deniers

During his commencement speech Saturday before 8,000 graduates and 30,000 in attendance at the University of California-Irvine, President Barack Obama used the opportunity to raise awareness about a need to curb climate change, while he railed against detractors in Congress who refuse to believe that climate change exists or that it's an issue that relates to politics. (L.A. Times photo by Genaro Molina)

"When President Kennedy set us on a course for the moon, there were a number of people who made a serious case that it would be too expensive, that it would take too long," Obama said. "But nobody ignored the science. I don't remember anyone saying the moon wasn't there or that it was made of cheese. . . . There are some who duck the question by saying, 'Hey, I'm not a scientist.' Let me translate that for you: What that means is, 'I accept that man-made climate change is real, but if I admit it, I'll be run out of town by a radical fringe that thinks climate science is a liberal plot."

"Tackling global warming will spur innovation and economic opportunities, much as the space race launched in the Kennedy era did, the president said," writes Louis Sahagun of the Los Angeles Times. Obama said: "We need scientists to design new fuels. We need farmers to help grow them. We need engineers to invent new technologies. We need entrepreneurs to sell those technologies. We need workers to operate assembly lines that hum with high-tech, zero-carbon components. We need builders to hammer into place the clean energy age. We can do this." (Read more)