An Energy Secretary who Quotes Faulkner

Here's the full video of the president elect's naming of his energy and environment team. Steven Chu's remarks are the most interesting, and to my mind sound like they were probably written by the man himself, at least initially, rather than by some PR manager.

Man, times have changed...

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Chris,
The other thing that sticks me is that these folks are government people. They are not industry folks. That is important for two reasons. First, they know from experience what government is and what it is not. That is radically different then the current approach. Second, they will be more skeptical of claim by industry about what can be done, and how much it will cost.

Heh. Joe said, "...President Gore" at the very end of the clip.

By Matt Platte (not verified) on 16 Dec 2008 #permalink

An apt reference at the close of the administration of George W. Snopes.

By Jon Winsor (not verified) on 16 Dec 2008 #permalink

First, I applaud the diversity and excellence of the Obama picks. I really like Chu's resume. Chu, by the way, is not from what I can tell a "government" person. I think that's a strength actually. He is, however, an academic so he might know a thing or two about politics...

Two, not that impressed with the Faulkner quote because Faulkner was a segregationist who, if I recall, wanted to go slow on the whole "integration thing" and seemed to be an early support of "states rights", kind of code for keeping the Nigras in their place...I know that Dubois wanted to debate him about it. There's more here at this link:

http://64.233.169.132/search?q=cache:jp7O-2fUbg4J:www.olemiss.edu/mwp/d…

I hope that was an accidental backhanded slight...something unintentional. Faulkner wouldn't be the guy I quoted in front of the first black president. I would have gone with somnething from Henry Miller's Air Conditioned Nightmare but that's just me...