Barack Obama on the US "setting a bad example"?

more campaign rhetoric..i can't take the cold ..i will spend the money on the extra heat bill as why should my family suffer? i cut back in other areas like expensive vacations and going out to eat and cook my own food..heal tier and better tasting..

i drive a Ford Ranger and my wife has a Ford Explorer..these are our choice..and we will keep them for as long as they run.

eating as much as you want?...this is not even worth commenting on...its just so vague and condescending

"What are these people thinking? Well, its liek this. Granted, socialized medicine is a bureaucratic, expensive, and inefficient approach--and seriously, I agree with you on that. BUT--or current health care system in the US, measured against those socialized systems of health care, is at or near the bottom in virtually every category--preventable deaths, child mortality, livespan, overall quality. AND it is the most expensive in the world. So--all the evidence says that "universal health care" is a better deal than what we have. And--thanks to the neoconservatives, that's exactly what we are going to be saddled with. Yes--I said "thanks to the neoconservatives." Why? Because our system is BROKEN--and so far, the only ideas for fixing it are coming from the liberal side. All we are hearing from the right are meaningless political rants about the "evils of socialized medicine." But NO ITEAS. NO ALTERNATIVES. So when it comes time to draft legislation--it will be liberal. Because those are the only ideas on the table. Don't like that? Then stop the pollitical rants and start developing real alternatives. Not slogans. Not ideology. Real policy proposals tha twill fix real problems. Or plan on socialized medicine. If that's what we get--we will have the right to thank for it--not the left.

Please. We are by far the most wasteful society on earth.

We don't take what we need, we take whatever we can.

We use SUV's that get awful gas mileage and then wonder why gas is so expensive. Go to Euroupe...the average person drives a car that's about 1/4 the size of out largest SUV's. If they drive at all, that is.

We waste food while other countries experience a shortage of food.

That "Look out for #1" attitude hasn't got us very far has it? Billions of dollars wasted in Iraq that could've been used to actually find Osama Bin Laden or fix health care and or any number of social programs that could have helped make this country better rather than make us hated.

You only hate those ideas because you know in some way they are true.

Actually, we're not paying for it in full. Our overindulgence is instant gratification. What about the toll that we are taking on the environment? How do you quantify that? We're not "paying" for it because it's the subsequent generations who will have to suffer because we have no limits. Restraint isn't such a bad thing ...

When there are limited resources, yeah you should pay attention to consumption. And you say it's not the government's job to tell us how much to use? Well let me give you an example. Did you know that in deserts like Las Vegas the government regulates how much water you can use? Why? Because if every person just wastefully used as much as they wanted, water sources would run out!

If you want to actually pay for your choices, that's fine, but their true cost would be much more expensive. It takes much more water and fertilizer to eat meat than vegetables, then if you get coronary artery disease or diabetes, it takes a lot of money and environmental resourses to handle that. The EPA sets a standard as to how efficient air conditioners must be. When they use electricity, it is powered by coal, so the price for this electricity should be increased to cover the cost of melting glaciers, saving polar bears, and cancer from all of the coal pollutants. Our choices do have impacts, so it is a bad example for us to set for the rest of the world's population if we act as if they don't. If you want the market to handle things, like McCain proposes, prices will sky-rocket, btw.

It is setting a bad example. If we are supposed to be the leaders of the free world, we have an obligation bestowed upon us at birth or at naturalization to not only be the best American we can be, but be the best citizen of God's creation that we can be. If we can't even pretend to respect his creation, how can we expect to be respected by any of God's other children? To continue with our wasteful habits is selfish. Sure we may pay our American dollars to do so, but our children and the children of those we have yet to meet will pay the ultimate price with their lives or living conditions. I'm guessing you didn't get a long with playmates at a child. You have to learn how to not be so selfish.

...that is setting a bad example. As a guest on this earth, you should spend more time being kind to it.

Are you even listening?

Actually, the government does regulate how you heat/cool your house with building codes that require certain efficiency standards. They also regulate your food with the FDA. Just because we have the "freedom" to do all these horrible things doesn't mean that we should.

It is hypocritical of us to tell the entire world to conserve as we routinely guzzle every bit of energy known to man. Obama simply pointed this out. Besides, it would be in our own best interest to change our greedy habits.

Obama 2008

I haven't seen the content of the speech but it's all over talk radio.

Says it all right there doesn't it?

Well then MAYBE just MAYBE he should follow his own advice and move out of his million dollar home, get a four cyclinder [car], and never eat out.

Yeah....like that will happen.

Typical elitist....Do as I say...Not as I do.