President Barack Obama’s official Twitter account late Tuesday asked people to help ‘stick it to climate change deniers’ by signing a petition in support of Obama’s plan to cut carbon pollution.
“This is a big moment in the fight against climate change — stick it to climate change deniers by adding your name,” the tweet asked.
This is a big moment in the fight against climate change—stick it to climate change deniers by adding your name: http://t.co/fkCzkiMhFw
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 14, 2014
The account is mostly run by staffers for Organizing for Action, a group that supports Obama’s policy agenda, although the president does occasionally tweet on it. Still, the decision to tweet out such a pointed, partisan message under Obama’s official Twitter account is a far cry from Obama’s message as a candidate that he wants to unite the country.
As a candidate, for example, Obama told Rolling Stone magazine that he would avoid the kind of politics that “breeds division,” and said he wanted to end the “constant petty bickering that’s come to characterize our politics.”
“I don’t want to pit Red America against Blue America,” he said in 2007. “I want to be the president of the United States of America.”
A blog post under Organizing for Action from Jack Shapiro suggests that the carbon pollution petition is a way to show public support against “deniers and deep-pocketed polluters.”
“If you care about fighting climate change — or just want to stick it to the groups denying basic science — add your name to tell the EPA where you stand,” he wrote.