Most people have probably seen and/or listened to Barack Obama’s inaugural speech by now. In the second presidential debate, Obama ranked energy as his top priority (the choices offered by the moderator were: healthcare, entitlement reform and energy). As I pointed out earlier this week, the President picked an inner energy and environment circle that is heavily tilted in one direction: combating climate change and promoting alternative energy.
We were thus very interested to see if Obama would place a strong focus on energy issues in his inaugural speech given the precarious economic environment. After all, that is probably not where he stood to score the most points.
We were not disappointed. Here are all energy-related quotes in the speech:
"each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."
"We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together." (Emphasis ours)
"We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."
"With old friends and former foes, we’ll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet." (Emphasis ours)
"And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."
We’ve already discussed this topic at length so I won’t be delving into the meaning of every quote. Suffices to say that the President made all the right noises as far as alt energy investors are concerned, and he managed to do it five times in the space of 20 minutes.
You can find a full transcript of the inaugural address here.
I’ve been seeing some rumbling that the $54 billion (give or take) in the stimulus package slotted for alt energy isn’t enough. How much would be “enough,” and how exactly should the money be used? Choose your own goal(s) in answering: Efficiency/Reduced dependence on foreign oil/best returns for alt energy investors/whatever.