Change Jimmy Carter Can Believe In

from Newt Gingrich

Campaigning in Oregon last week, Senator Barack Obama seemed to forget his campaign theme of "Yes We Can," telling his fellow Americans that more pain -- not more production -- is the answer. He responded to a question about America's role in reducing global energy consumption like this:

"We can't tell [other countries], don't grow. We can't -- drive our SUVs and you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on you know, 72 degrees at all times, and whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra, and then just expect that every other country's going to say OK."

I have two reactions to this.

First, I'm used to my doctor telling me I can't eat as much as I want, but it sounds eerie coming from a politician. Is the "No We Can't" Left planning to ban the buffet line as well?

Second, and more importantly, telling the next generation of Americans that they can't have the lifestyle that their parents enjoy is defeatist and wrong. It is a rejection of the energy, optimism and innovation that has made this nation great.

It's also all too similar to President Carter in February of 1977 when he called the energy shortage "permanent" and called on Americans to turn their thermostat down to "65 degrees in the daytime . . .

Link: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less - HUMAN EVENTS.

Comments

[spintreebb]

Change we can all believe in. When a politician is elected and changes what he promised during the campaign, he can honestly state that he promised the change.

Promising change is the ultimate cya.

[Been There Done that]

Does any of this sound familiar?

"[This] will not be a year of politics as usual. It can be a year of inspiration and hope, and it will be a year of concern, of quiet and sober reassessment of our nation's character and purpose. It has already been a year when voters have confounded the experts.

"There is a new mood in America. We have been shaken by a tragic war abroad and by scandals and broken promises a home. Our people are searching for new voices and new ideas and new leaders.

"We have been without leadership too long. We have had divided and deadlocked government too long.

"It is time for America to move and to speak not with boasting and belligerence but with a quiet strength, to depend in world affairs not merely on the size of on arsenal but on the nobility of ideas.

"It is time for us to take a new look at our own government, to strip away the secrecy, to expose the unwarranted pressure of lobbyists.

"It is time for a nationwide comprehensive health program for all our people.

"We can have an American government that does not oppress or spy on its own people but respects our dignity and our privacy and our right to be let alone."

These are not Obama quotes but excerpts from "Our Nation's Past and Future:" Acceptance speech delivered by the Democratic Party nominee, Gov. Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1976.