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Download The strength of US President Barack Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy and the devastation it caused to the East Coast last week helped him cross the finish line, some commentators believe. And it raised a topic that was conspicuous by its absence during the campaign - climate change. "In the final days of the campaign, Hurricane Sandy served as a wake-up call for political leaders to take the necessary actions that will reduce emissions and prepare the country for climate impacts," said Jennifer Morgan, climate and energy director at the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank. Damon Moglen, who heads the climate and energy program at the Washington-based Friends of the Earth, said the superstorm boosted Obama's standing and could have helped him to win. But in the longer term, he said, Sandy could serve a s a reminder of the dire effects of climate change, making it hard for the president to "sidestep" the issue in his second term. "It will become a hugely important footnote in history," Moglen said of the hurricane. "It is going to be impossible for Obama in his second term not to treat climate change as a true priority. Environmentalists have long been criticizing the failure of both Obama and Mitt Romney to address the problem of climate change during the campaign. There was no mention of the issue during the candidates' three televised debates. "The president deserves very severe criticism for his unwillingness to talk in a more serious way about climate change," said Moglen. Hurricane Sandy, he added, "turned the corner on the ridiculous debate in this country" about whether climate change is real. | 
