Obama: "We can't...eat as much as we want"

AFP ^ | 5/18/8

[NativeNewYorker]

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

From this story:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Barack Obama set his sights on November's general election Saturday as he campaigned in Oregon, where he hopes to declare victory in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama has said Tuesday's primaries in Oregon and Kentucky could mark the end of his drawn-out battle with rival Hillary Clinton, and his campaign pressed home that message by announcing a symbolic return to Iowa that day.

Iowa was the scene of the Illinois senator's first victory in the 2008 presidential nominating race, and his campaign noted Saturday it is "a critical general election state that Democrats must win in November."

Polls show Obama leading in Oregon, where 52 delegates are up for grabs, while Clinton is ahead in Kentucky, a state with 51 delegates that has a similar demographic to West Virginia, where she won a thumping victory Tuesday.

His campaign says he needs just 17 more pledged delegates won through state votes to reach a majority of 1,627, not counting the "superdelegates," party officials who can vote either way at August's Democratic national convention.

Using a baseball analogy, Obama said May 8 that if after Tuesday's primaries "we have a majority of pledged delegates, which is possible, then I think we can make a pretty strong claim that we have got the most runs and its the ninth inning and we have won."

The official finishing line is 2,025 delegates, including superdelegates.

During a rally in Roseburg, Oregon, Saturday, Obama presented himself as the front-runner almost without question, attacking presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on foreign policy, the environment and healthcare.

Reviving Friday's furious row sparked by President George W. Bush's suggestion that Democrats wanted to appease terrorists, Obama said that not talking to North Korea and Iran had only made those states stronger.

"I want everybody to be absolutely clear about this because George Bush and McCain have suggested that me being willing to sit down with our adversaries is a sign of weakness and sign of appeasement," he said.

He also attacked McCain's plan for a gas tax holiday to cope with rising pump prices, which Clinton supports, as well as his other environmental plans, saying the Republican had consistently opposed fuel efficiency standards.

"For him to come to Oregon as an environmental president, but his big strategy is to do more drilling and to have a gas tax holiday for three months, that's a phony solution," he said.

Pitching his message to Oregon's environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to "lead by example" on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen," he added.

The Illinois senator also argued that the differences between his healthcare plan and that of Clinton "pale in comparison to the differences we have with John McCain," whose proposals would only work "if you're healthy and wealthy."

The escalating rhetoric between Obama and McCain has evoked the kind of campaign battles more common in the immediate run-up to an election -- and emphasized further Obama's pole position in the Democratic race.

But Clinton has vowed to keep fighting until the end of the primary season on June 3, and campaigning in Kentucky Saturday, she defended the plan for the gas tax holiday and accused McCain of having no idea how to fund it.

"Senator McCain said let's give everybody a gas tax holiday but doesn't want to pay for it. I think I've got the best plan. Let the oil companies pay it out of their excess profits," she said.

[mylife]

The guy sure is an idiot for a Hahvahhd grad

[RockinRight]

Sure. But having a Presidential candidate tell us that in terms of what “has” to be done is decidedly NOT conservative.

[tcostell]

Cold and in the dark is the goal of the new environmental movement. In fact, people keep demonizing the "speculators" in the energy market, but what exactly do they expect that those speculators are reacting to?

They can see that this country is about to go off the cliff with regard to energy policy no matter who wins the election, and that global warming and the environment will be the justification for it. It's the "shared sacrifice" that the Democrats keep talking about.

Remember I said so.... cold and in the dark.

[mylife]

bingo

[Hugin]

Look out Hometown Buffet, Barak is coming after you.

[dragonblustar]

Screw Obama. I bet his house is set on 68 degrees.

[Popman]

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

Omama, you POS Marxist

As an American and free citizen, I can drive anything I want to, I can eat anything I want to and the "other countries" don't have a !@#$$%^&*()_+ thing to say about it and if they did, screw 'em

It's very difficult to belive this empty suit Marxist is a step away from the Presidency

[RockinRight]

When he loses, and he WILL lose, what are the libs and race pimps going to do when they find out it was racist white DEMOCRATS that didn’t vote for him and voted for McCain instead?

[Ditter]

How dare he!!!!!!

I’ll set my a/c for 65 and put on another dog if I get cold. It is none of his business.

[Alouette]

He’s right. I’m going to turn my thermostat down to 68.

[mylife]

Huddled around a bare CFL lightbulb in a 750 sq ft gov owned apt

[MaggieCarta]

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ...

Ah, the 2nd Carter term, at last... Quick, someone, get Yobama a sweater...

Too bad there's no Republican in this race...

[ricks_place]

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

Other nations would have a valid concern if actual pollutants were reaching their shores. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Generally, we expect that other countries mind their own business. We value our personal liberty and Obama appears poised to severely limit our liberty in the name of global warming.

[RockinRight]

That’s no business of a President. Head of the CDC or FDA, perhaps, but not the President.

[J40000]

This is nothing but population CONTROL.

I can’t imagine any other time in this nation’s history when we are told by our ELECTED leaders how to live our personal lives in order to gain approval by OTHER countries around the world! This is outrageous!

I thought that this was a ‘democracy’. I thought we as a people were a light on a hill to people around the world as to what true freedom can mean in the everyday lives of it’s citizens.

How DARE these socialists come along and tell us what we can eat, what we can drive and at what temperature we can live in our homes! I’d like to tar and feather these folks.

[Hoodat]

I wonder what Obama has his thermostat set at.

[Rodm]

Actually I prefer a nice toasty 80 from the wood stove. Obama’s can spend all those millions in campaign donation and buy us lunch for a month. LOL

[mylife]

Im gonna take my tax relief check and buy another gun

[Gorzaloon]

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

And exactly HowTF does a swaggering Harvard dandy have ANY remote idea at all what it is like to EARN a basket full of groceries and a full tank? And I suppose we are all going to put on SWEATERS like we did when we had another screaming Socialist moron in the White House?

Bite me.

[econjack]

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,"

This is what scares the hell out of me about Obama. He feels he has the Divine Right to tell me how I must live in order to "fit in" with his perception of what's right. He believes in a perfectly even distribution of income even though people contribute unequally to the economic system. He thinks the "rich" don't pay their "fair share" even though the top 10% of the income earners pay 66% of the income tax receipts. He wants to give more to the "poor" who currently pay nothing in income taxes. Indeed, the lowest 40% of the wage earners pay no income tax.

I am so tired of politicians and other who romanticize the poor, like it's some kind of badge of honor to sit on your ass and do nothing. BS! For 99% of the poor, they are poor through their own choosing. The don't invest in themselves, they don't seek work to gain experience, they prefer a handout to a hand up. I wonder how many would stay on the public dole if we forced them to show up every day to clean toilets and sweep sidewalks of public buildings. How many would seek other employment if they had to contribute something in order to get their handouts?

At best, Obama is a socialist and his statement: "America is the greatest country on Earth and I want your help to change it." Sorry, your idea of change is my vision of ruin and I'll have no part of it.