Climate change emerges as a challenge for Biden as he courts liberal activists

WASHINGTON - The issue of how aggressively to tackle climate change has emerged as an early test of former vice president Joe Biden's ability to navigate a Democratic primary process heavily influenced by liberal activists while simultaneously positioning himself as his party's best shot at winning back more moderate voters who helped elect President Donald Trump.

The tension was on full display Monday night as a large crowd of liberal activists repeatedly booed references to a report that the former vice president would seek a "middle ground" on what they see as a defining issue among the crowded Democratic field.

At a rally for the Green New Deal attended by about 1,5000 activists at Howard University, speaker after speaker criticized Biden's reported position, which Reuters attributed to a campaign adviser last week.

Biden's campaign has since pushed back against the report, and he has promised a major speech later this month outlining his environmental priorities.

But that did little to quell concerns among those who attended the event organized by the left-wing Sunrise Movement that included liberal luminaries Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

"Who here liked it when Joe Biden said he was middle of the road on climate policy?" asked Alexandra Rojas, executive director of the left-wing campaign group Justice Democrats - an organization that has begun attacking Biden on social media.

Ocasio-Cortez, who is neutral in the presidential race but has repeatedly teamed up with Sanders, also went after Biden, without using his name. After she criticized "conservatives in both parties" who did not have a comprehensive plan to transition off of fossil fuels, an audience member shouted, "No middle ground!"

"No middle ground is right!" said Ocasio-Cortez. "I will be damned if the same politicians who refused to act [earlier] come back today and say we need a 'middle of the road' approach to save our lives."

The rally took place just hours after Biden appeared at campaign event in New Hampshire, where he called for a "green revolution" and emphasized that he had introduced legislation addressing climate change while a U.S. senator from Delaware in the 1980s - before Ocasio-Cortez was born.

"We do need to finish this green revolution in a way that is rational, that we can do it, afford it and get it done now," Biden said. "There's so much we can do."

It's unclear how close Biden's ambitions will come to those embodied in the Green New Deal, a plan introduced by Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., that envisions the United States achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within a decade while also guaranteeing Americans high-paying jobs and high-quality health care.

The plan was won broad support among Democratic activists and has been endorsed by several of the party's presidential hopefuls. But it has been heavily criticized by Republicans, who argue it is unrealistic and unaffordable and part of a lurch toward socialism by Democrats.

Early polling has showed Biden with a large lead among the Democratic field both nationally an in early nominating states.

But Varshini Prakash, the executive director of the Sunrise Movement, argued in an interview that Biden's current strength could fade if Democratic voters believe his climate policies are lacking.

"It's early," Prakash said. "Most of the support he's received is coming because he just announced his campaign, and because he has such close ties to Barack Obama. As people get used to the idea of 'President Joe' instead of 'Uncle Joe,' and they take a look at different candidates' policies, I think you'll see some different polls."

Sanders, who also spoke at Monday night's rally in Washington, did not criticize Biden by name. But he criticized candidates with only a tepid commitment to fighting climate change.

"We have an overall economy that is rigged and a political system that is corrupt," Sanders said. "A lot of people, say, well, I want to combat climate change, but you know, I don't want to take on the fossil fuel industry. That is not the way it happens."

Sanders took more direct aim at Biden last week after the publication of the Reuters report.

"There is no 'middle ground' when it comes to climate policy," he said in a tweet. "If we don't commit to fully transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels, we will doom future generations."

Other 2020 hopefuls also referred to the report on social media as they sought to distinguish themselves from Biden.

“'Middle-ground’ approaches and half measures won’t cut it,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat who has put addressing climate change at the center of his presidential bid, said in a tweet. “We need a large-scale national mobilization to defeat climate change and grow millions of jobs in a clean energy economy.”