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Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Quote of the Day: Obama Says "We can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house"

Here's the full excerpt from Newsweek's behind the scenes "Special Election Project" reporting (via HuffPost). Obama is referring to an April 26th 2007 primary debate question from moderator Brian Williams:

The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."
He's right of course. We can't solve global warming without changing our leaders and not just our lighbulbs. What he should have said in the debate is this:
"Well Brian, My personal action was to run for President of the United States of America, so that I can make building a new, clean energy economy my top priority and lead the international community to tackle global warming. And I'm asking every one of you out there to make sure that your personal actions include active participation in our democratic process."
We'll have to wait for that line in an upcoming Rose Garden speech, I guess...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

SO utterly and completely true. In Australia we live in a state of over beaurocratic stagnancy. It seems if you want to affect real change you have to do more than the little things that make you feel a little better. Changing your lightbulbs hardly offsets the power your ENORMOUS TV eats. The real changes will come through better products and there really is no way we can personally affect this EXCEPT for buying them when they appear.
Plug in your car to solar technology on your own roof. Put up a wind generator.
Seek forgiveness rather than asking permission.

Peter Grynch said...

Electric cars are great, but they require electricity which brings us back to nuclear power.

Apparently, the biggest nuke plant on the planet is in the planet!
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=58687

Nuclear Power: Mother Nature's Original Green Energy

Will the NRC attempt to regulate it under an Obama Administration?