What I meant to say was (1 Viewer)

[MSUSousaphone]

I agree with the OP. Obama is such an eloquent person that I didn't think he (or his administration) would make such bad word choices. Take the "school" thing for example. Some of the extreme rights were upset that he was talking to their kids (ignore those people, they would be mad at anything O did) but most of the people that were upset were mad at how they phrased the homework with "how can YOU serve the President?"

They should have caught that and changed it to "How can you serve your Country?"

There's been a few other things that O meant to be good but he worded weird and conservatives picked it apart. I expected the fight between policies but he's been giving Fox News a smörgåsbord of things to bash semantic-wise.

 

[champ76]

I encourage you to watch Chu's GridWeek keynote address before you label him a nanny state nincompoop. Everything I saw (the WSJ comment was not in this clip) was an honest assessment of how we can better manage our energy usage and production through improved technology.

I listened to about half, all I can do right now. I suspect his "unruly teenagers" comment did not come from his prepared presentation. What I heard was an honest evaluation of alternative energy contribution to the power grid at the present time, which was wholly underwhelming. I have no quarrel with modernizing the power grid; I have no problem with injecting greener technology into the grid as long as it doesn't cost me appreciably more; I have no problem with spending government seed money for research on renewable sources of energy. I have a problem with a condescending bureaucratic attitude that the government is the parent and we are the unruly children that need to be brought into line to do things the way they see fit.

 

[V Chip]

I listened to about half, all I can do right now. I suspect his "unruly teenagers" comment did not come from his prepared presentation.

You've said/quoted that three times but I don't see anywhere that he used the word "unruly" in his comments. Unless I am missing it, the only place that was used was by the opinion writer for the WSJ.

 

[champ76]

You've said/quoted that three times but I don't see anywhere that he used the word "unruly" in his comments. Unless I am missing it, the only place that was used was by the opinion writer for the WSJ.

No, I'm using it as shorthand for what he actually said. And I think it's a fair representation of the meaning of his comments.

 

[Severum]

I have a problem with a condescending bureaucratic attitude that the government is the parent and we are the unruly children that need to be brought into line to do things the way they see fit.

No, I'm using it as shorthand for what he actually said. And I think it's a fair representation of the meaning of his comments.

The most complete quote I've seen so far is:
"I'll go back to the American public, just like your teenage kids aren't acting in a way that they should act, I think the American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is."

WSJ removed "I'll go back to" from the quote which makes me suspect we are missing some context. He discussed teenagers wasting energy in his keynote and similar statements preceding the above quote would explain the comparison. An out of context incomplete quote from an agenda driven blog is suspect in my eyes and not worth getting angry over just yet.

If you assume the WSJ interpretation is correct then Chu's problem is that he's acting more like an honest scientist than a bureaucrat. It's a fact that most of the American public needlessly wastes energy and knows very little about energy policy. The government absolutely needs to play a bigger role in encouraging energy saving practices with both consumers and producers.

I think our outrage should be directed at the long line of incompetent bureaucrats who made politically expedient statements while doing nothing to solve the problem.

 

[DangBeast]

My last electric bill was 145.88. I pay'd it, not Barack Obama or any government official. I will keep my TV on all night if I chose to, that is my choice. The day that someone pays my electric bill I will listen to what they want me to do, until then, I do what I want!