The flippancy of Senator Reid’s language is jarring, but this is encouraging news…

WASHINGTON — Saying it’s time to “take a whack” at climate change, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he plans to push for Senate action on global warming by the end of summer.

The Nevada Democrat in an interview with The Associated Press said the Senate will take up energy legislation in a couple of weeks “and then later this year, hopefully late this summer do the global warming part of it.” […]

Next week, Reid will participate in a “clean energy” forum being convened by the Center for American Progress. Others participating will include former President Bill Clinton, possibly former Vice President Al Gore,and senior Obama administration officials.