In a speech introducing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday at the New York League of Conservation Voters, former Vice President Al Gore took President Barack Obama to task for his handling of the environment. …

“On a national level, to use a computer term — our democracy has been hacked,” Gore said. “It no longer functions as it is intended to — to serve the public interests. And when the large carbon polluters and their ideological allies tell the members of Congress to jump, they do say, ‘How high?’ And we need leadership in the executive branch as well.”

“I deeply respect our president, and I am grateful for the steps that he has taken, but we cannot have four more years of mentioning this occasionally and saying it’s too bad that the Congress can’t act,” Gore added. “I know how tough it is. He’s done more in first four years than any other administration has ever done, and I respect that and acknowledge that. But the time has long since passed for us to get moving.”