President Obama talks clean energy at Washington, DC fundraiser

On the eve of the 2012 New Hampshire Primary, President Barack attended a campaign fundraiser in the nation’s capitol, where he delivered a rousing speech touching on number of green issues.

In his speech, Obama revisited a familiar theme of his 2008 presidential campaign: change.

  

“Change is the decision we made to stop waiting for Congress to do something about our oil addiction and go ahead and finally raise fuel efficiency standards on cars,” he said. “And now, by the next decade we are going to be driving cars that get 55 miles to a gallon.  And that is going to help our environment.  That will help our economy.  That’s going to help consumers.  That’s because of you.  That’s what change is.”

He sought to define the direction his reelection campaign would take during the 2012 election.

“The debate we’re going to have in this election is about where do we go from here,” Obama said.

“We should be in a race to support the best scientists and researchers who are trying to make the next breakthrough in clean energy and medicine,” he later added.  “And those should happen right here in the United States of America.”

The President also poked fun at his Republican rivals.

“Republicans in Congress and these candidates, they think that the best way for America to compete for new jobs and businesses is to follow other countries in a race to the bottom,” he said. “They figure, well, China pays low wages, we should pay low wages. Let's roll back the minimum wage.  Let's prevent folks from organizing for collective bargaining in this country.  Since other countries allow corporations to pollute as much as they want, why not get rid of the protections that ensure our air is clean and our water is clean.”

Seeking to fire up supporters for the tough fight ahead, Obama pointed to the words of Republican presidential candidates on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

“And everything we fought for during the last election is at stake in this election,” he declared. “The very core of what this country stands for is on the line. The basic promise that no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, this is a place where you could make it if you try.  The notion that we're all in this together, that we look out for one another. That's at stake in this election.  Don't take my word for it.  Watch some of these debates that have been going on up in New Hampshire.” 

White House photo of President Barack Obama visiting a home in Cleveland, Ohio by Pete Souza. 

Barack Obama still talking about climate change, clean energy

In an election cycle that has seen prominent Republican presidential candidates like Herman Cain and Rick Perry publicly question the science on climate change, incumbent President Barack Obama remains committed to solving the climate crisis and moving the U.S. down the path towards a clean energy economy.

Obama had this to say at a November 4, 2011 Press Conference following the G20 Summit in Cannes, France:

We agreed to keep phasing out fossil fuel subsidies -- perhaps the single-most important step we can take in the near term to fight climate change and create clean-energy economies. 

In Cannes, the leaders of the world's top 20 economies agreed to platform for "Improving energy markets and pursuing the Fight against Climate Change", stating in a Communique:

We are determined to enhance the functioning and transparency of energy markets. We commit to improve the timeliness, completeness and reliability of the JODI-oil database and to work on the JODI-gas database along the same principles. We call for continued dialogue annually between producers and consumers on a short, medium, and long-term out look forecasts for oil, gas and coal. We ask relevant organizations to make recommendations on the functioning and oversight of price reporting agencies. We reaffirm our commitment to rationalize and phase our over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption, while providing targeted support for the poorest.

We are committed to the success of the success of the Durban Conference on Climate Change and support South Africa as the incoming President of the Conference. We call for implementation of the Cancun agreements and further progress in all areas of negotiation, including the operationalization of the Green Climate Fund, as part of a balanced outcome in Durban. We discussed the IFIs report on climate finance and asked our Finance Ministers to continue work in the field, taking into account the objectives, provisions and principles of the UNFCCC. 

And at a November 7, 2011 campaign event in Washington, D.C., Obama noted the nation still has a lot of work to do on the clean energy front:

We still don’t have an energy policy that is suitable for the needs of the future.  And although we’ve made enormous progress, I think people forget, for example, that we doubled fuel efficiency standards on cars and trucks just in the last year, which if it had been in legislative form would have probably been the most significant piece of environmental legislation in the last 30 years.  A lot of people don’t know it.  And despite some of those gains we still are way too dependent on imported oil, and we still haven’t done everything we can to transition to a clean energy economy.

Official White House photo by Pete Sousa

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Barack Obama: Clean energy creating jobs

President Barack Obama revisited the theme of green jobs on Saturday in his Weekly Address:

We know that more and more jobs are being created in the clean energy sector, so we’re investing in wind power, solar power, and biofuels that will make us less dependent on foreign oil and clean up our planet for our children. These are steps we know will make a difference in people’s lives – not just twenty years from now, or ten years from now, but now, and in the months to come.