With a Nod to Vegas Tourism, Obama Touts 100 Days of Recovery
EmailABC News’ Yunji de Nies and Sunlen Miller report:
President Obama – during his only public event in his 3-day Western swing – offered no apology for his comments which sparked controversy months ago over visiting Las Vegas, yet appeared to purposely give a nod to the Las Vegas tourism industry within his remarks.
The president, in February said that companies getting government bailouts shouldn’t buy corporate jets and go to Vegas when they are using taxpayer’s money, sparking much local controversy in Vegas that the president’s comments could stunt tourism in the city.
Amid backlash ever since locally, the president at Nellis Air Force Base gave a little extra attention to the city that never sleep’s tourism industry.
“There’s nothing like a quick trip to Vegas in the middle of the week,” the president said, “And like millions of other Americans, we come to this beautiful city for the sights and for the sounds.”
Obama said that today – he also came here for the sun – the topic of his speech focusing on energy reform, following a tour of the solar photovoltaic array on the base.
“This base serves as a shining example of what’s possible when we harness the power of clean, renewable energy to build a new, firmer foundation for economic growth. Now, that’s the kind of foundation we’re trying to build all across America.”
The base is the largest solar electric plant of its kind in the western hemisphere, with more than 72,000 solar panels providing 25% of the electricity for the 12,000 people who live and work on the base. The president used the base as an example of what could be funded by the administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – which today, the President touted – is in its 100 day of inception.
“One hundred days ago, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in half a century, we passed the most sweeping economic recovery act in history, a plan designed to save jobs, create new ones, and put money in people’s pockets,” Mr. Obama said, “And one hundred days later, we’re already seeing results."
The administration is using the 100 days anniversary of the recovery act to give themselves a pat on the back for progress made in specific regions.
“We’re just at the start of this Recovery Act. We are going to keep on going through this year and into next year because we are going to make sure that not only are we putting people back to work, that we’re laying the foundation for a better economy,” Mr. Obama said. “Even as we clear away some of the wreckage and debris of this extraordinary recession, I’ve also said that our next task is making sure that this doesn’t happen again.”
The president said that a renewable energy revolution is one of the pillars of long-term prosperity.
“We know the cost of our oil addition all too well. It’s the cost measured by the billions of dollars we send to nations with unstable or unfriendly regimes. We help to fund both sides of the war on terror because of our addiction to oil. It’s the cost of our vulnerability to the volatility of the oil markets. It’s the cost we feel in shifting weather patterns that are already causing unprecedented droughts and more intense storms. It’s a cost we can’t bear any longer.”
The President touted the recovery act’s investment into two programs to help that goal: a solar energy technologies program, and the development of the use of geothermal energy.
- Yunji de Nies and Sunlen Miller
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Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | May 27, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
Appropriately expressed in an area that might resemble a dust bowl.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | May 27, 2009, 5:05 pm 5:05 pm
The Nellis solar energy system was begun in 2007 in a joint venture between the United States Air Force, Nevada Power Company, MMA Renewable Ventures, LLC, a subsidiary of Municipal Mortgage & Equity, LLC (“MuniMae”), and PowerLight Corp., a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation.
I guess Obama will have to blame this “shining example” on the Bush administration and private enterprise.
We really need to start building some nuclear power plants here in America instead of outsourcing our knowledge to the oil rich United Arab Emirates. What do they know that we don’t know?
Posted by: Meh | May 27, 2009, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
Zero goes to the nexus of moral depravity, to proclaim a lie. Specifically, “recovery”. What a crock, but it’s at least one big whopper of a lie, every day with this mob. Like yesterday, claiming that Sonia the Racist Sotomayor is an “intellectual”, who has the temperment to be on the SCOTUS? Even liberal publications have had articles saying she’s just a bully, not a smartie. So, ‘recovery’? Only if you are some traitorous union goon, or government slacker, I suppose.
It’s just that Zero knows he can get away with lying, because *most* of the media will go along. Not all, but 99%.
OBAMA = FAILURE
Posted by: JD | May 27, 2009, 5:27 pm 5:27 pm
After Las Vegas, Obama will visit Beverly Hills for a fundraiser. Arnold is destroying California, but Obama has done nothing to help us. NYC/Wall St. crooks get a trillion dollar handout that California taxpayers have to help pay for. We need that money for our own state! Stop robbing us!
Politicians use California like an ATM machine.
Posted by: Arnoldresignnow | May 27, 2009, 5:31 pm 5:31 pm
Obama has expanded the ATM machine to the entire country.
Watch for the VAT, Value Added Tax, that is being seriously bantered around by the Obama administration. They are trying to get blood from turnips.
Who is going to pay all these taxes when they hobble the inventive, slow the industrious, dull the exceptional and blind the visionaries?
Posted by: Meh | May 27, 2009, 5:49 pm 5:49 pm
Can I just say something here?
The solar panels take up 140 acres to bring 25% of the energy needs for 12,000 people.
What is the vision for expanding solar technology & what kind of space is required?
Posted by: MayBee | May 27, 2009, 5:55 pm 5:55 pm
===Politicians use California like an ATM machine.
Posted by: Arnoldresignnow | May 27, 2009 5:31:45 PM===
Really? And that is taking money out of your pocket how? Does the state give the politicians money or is it private funds? Just a clue, it’s the latter. Now, I agree Obama uses Hollywood. But not only do they let him, they enjoy it while he is doing it.
Posted by: Sue | May 27, 2009, 5:56 pm 5:56 pm
MayBee:”What is the vision for expanding solar technology & what kind of space is required?”
The most realistic vision is to place it on rooftops in the sun belt, where the peak PV production coincides nicely with the peak power demand (office AC). A number of commercial building designs I have done aim for net-zero, but the roof square footage is typically inadequate to achieve that for anything over a two story building. The PV array (should, by the numbers) also significantly extend the life of the roofing.
Space is not a major concern – there isn’t a lot of competition for the millions of acres of desert in America, although solar concentrator systems may prove more economical for utility scale systems. The cost is still the major concern, but it is steadily coming down as the economy of scale is starting to build.
Posted by: jhw539 | May 27, 2009, 6:05 pm 6:05 pm
there isn’t a lot of competition for the millions of acres of desert in America,
============
No way environmentalists will let someone load the deserts up with solar panels!
Imagine saying “There isn’t a lot of competition for the acres in ANWAR, so there’s no problem drilling for oil there.”
Posted by: MayBee | May 27, 2009, 6:16 pm 6:16 pm
“they hobble the inventive, slow the industrious, dull the exceptional and blind the visionaries”
I can just see the poor pathetic industrious, exceptional, visionaries cowering in their corners! I know I am!
And all because Bush and Cheney got voted out of office and someone with a brain and a sense of the future got elected!
Posted by: danita | May 27, 2009, 6:35 pm 6:35 pm
Isn’t it amazing that Reid changed his mind on GITMO at the same time Obama went to Nevada to do a fundraiser for him?
So now Reid is fine with detainees coming to America.
What timing.
More proof that Obama, Pelosi, Reid, etc. are counting on the stupidity of Americans to not notice what they are up to.
Posted by: ross | May 27, 2009, 6:46 pm 6:46 pm
MayBee:”No way environmentalists will let someone load the deserts up with solar panels! ”
Lets just see, shall we? They haven’t been any sort of significant problem yet. The real problems typically come from NIMBYs wrapping themselves up as environmentalists, and there aren’t a whole lot of them in deserts.
Posted by: jhw539 | May 27, 2009, 7:22 pm 7:22 pm
“Isn’t it amazing that Reid changed his mind on GITMO at the same time Obama went to Nevada to do a fundraiser for him”
Isn’t amazing that Reid changed his mind right after Obama blew Darth Cheney off the stage .
Right wing philosophy: When in doubt, just lie.
Posted by: Ryan C | May 27, 2009, 7:26 pm 7:26 pm
“Watch for the VAT, Value Added Tax, that is being seriously bantered around by the Obama administration”
Yes its coming right after the Fiarness Doctrine and Obama’s volunteer private army.
For two decades, Dr. Emanuel has been writing about how to guarantee health care for all. In White House discussions on health policy, he emphasizes the need to slash co-payments for preventive care and insists that patients should be able to keep their doctors even if they change insurance plans.
But some of his proposals, calling for vouchers, a value-added tax and an end to the system of employer-provided insurance, have differed radically from President Obama’s.
While some of his ideas bear little resemblance to Mr. Obama’s, Dr. Emanuel said he fully supported the president’s agenda. “I’m all for my voucher plan,” he said, “but I don’t think it’s on the table now.”
Posted by: Ryan C | May 27, 2009, 7:32 pm 7:32 pm
Wow…imagine, Obama is praising himself (one of his primary tasks so far) for initiating 100 days of economic recovery!? No..it’s just 100 days of false wishing and hoping and platitudes and euphemisms for spending us into a bottomless pit. Don’t forget that a trillion dollars or so of “play” money is out there now, with more to follow. In a few days, GM declares bankruptcy, and their sales will drop even more than they already have, which will guarantee that they can’t make a profit. Again, wow! What a performance!
Posted by: corruptfedgovt | May 27, 2009, 7:45 pm 7:45 pm
Sue: That doesn’t change the fact that Obama is charging Caifornia taxpayers for the corrupt Wall St./NYC bailout–
money we need for our own state.
Californians pay more in taxes than we get from Washington DC in services. We are tired of being robbed.
It’s incredibly callous of Obama to hold a fundraiser here, when this
economic crisis is going on. He thinks he has our votes no matter what. He should think again.
Posted by: Arnoldresignnow | May 27, 2009, 7:55 pm 7:55 pm
Huh? What “base”? I read that three times…. Don’t you guys have editors???? Call me if you need me……..
Now, what BASE?
Posted by: tanarg | May 27, 2009, 8:01 pm 8:01 pm
We shall see, jhw:
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Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 desert acres, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday such development would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public.
Feinstein said Friday she intends to push legislation that would turn the land into a national monument, which would allow for existing uses to continue while preventing future development.
The Wildlands Conservancy orchestrated the government’s purchase of the land between 1999-2004. It negotiated a discount sale from the real estate arm of the former Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroad and then contributed $40 million to help pay for the purchase. David Myers, the conservancy’s executive director, said the solar projects would do great harm to the region’s desert tortoise population.
“It would destroy the entire Mojave Desert ecosystem,” said David Myers, executive director of The Wildlands Conservancy.
===========
Posted by: MayBee | May 27, 2009, 8:03 pm 8:03 pm
Feinstein’s spokesman, Gil Duran, said the senator looks forward to working with the governor and the Interior Department on the issue.
“There’s plenty of room in America’s deserts for the bold expansion of renewable energy projects,” Duran said.
Posted by: Ryan C | May 27, 2009, 8:26 pm 8:26 pm
Re: “Do we see a pattern here?”
Just the usual pattern of Republican stupidity.
Posted by: Arnoldresignnow | May 27, 2009, 9:42 pm 9:42 pm
Yes, Prez “O” in Vegas now. Costing us millions to fund his trip. He sure likes to trek around the country as well as the world! Wouldn’t it be better for the environment had he chosen Skype? You people seem to think that solar power is a new word to the Webster Dictionary. Our country has been examining solar for decades. This is by no means a new idea or project. As for CA and their financial down turn, well, it is expected. You want to finance everything from bugs and fish, no wells for farmers, steal water from other States pay millions for illegals to have a home, food, medical care and schools, so somewhere down the road the money just dries up, like your farms. Land of Fruits and Nuts. Roll over and have all those Hollywood types fork up more money. After all that is Big “O”‘s promise to America with higher taxes for those who make the big bucks. You pushed for the debt you have not your Governor. He doesn’t make law he just signs for what you vote for. Get your State making money so you can bail yourself out.
Posted by: Debbie-NC | May 28, 2009, 12:55 am 12:55 am
Obama is like wind and solar power.. they sound good.. but do not solve the problem.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | May 28, 2009, 9:00 am 9:00 am
““And one hundred days later, we’re already seeing results.”
So does he own the economy now? Or does he still need the Bush crutches?
Posted by: KR | May 28, 2009, 10:50 am 10:50 am
Not sure why I read anything on entertainment these days.
Posted by: Elanor Boghossian | October 18, 2011, 9:53 am 9:53 am