Obama Comes Clean on Coal With Capito and Republicans: To Be "Put Out of Business...Not Right Away"

Here in this MSNBC video where President Obama met with Republicans to square off in some debate (where he proves to be extraordinarily skilled at both recitation and rhetorical presentation of facts for debate purposes, without a script or teleprompter) he finally comes clean on his policy for coal.  This clip shows Rep. Capito questioning Obama on this issue important to all West Virginians and his response.  This should remove any doubts that in the long term Obama's goal is to "put the old [i.e. energy source--coal] out of business", just not "right away".  These are his words addressed directly to Capito's forthright question below (after mentioning he has met and enjoyed working with Governor Manchin, a "divide and conquer" strategy).  Note Obama ducks for water and prepares himself as if he knows the question coming.

The ambiguity is now removed.  The Obama administration wants coal phased out "in the long run".  Governor Manchin should mark this whenever he deals or meets again with the President or his EPA administration.  Senator Byrd has already alluded to this long term policy by pushing back West Virginians from making harsh criticism.  Is this why Obama never campaigned in West Virginia?  Will West Virginia be "phased out" as a major energy supplier "in the long run"?  This is what "change" is all about in the energy policy front, and here in West Virginia.  Now everyone knows for certain which way the "powers that be" are pushing.

It appears that Rep. Capito formed her Coal Caucus just in time, which just added Rep. Mollahan (D) to its ranks to form a defense against this aggressive (and rather Statist) policy to control energy industries for a Utopian global agenda.

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Tuning out the State of the Union--A Historical Perspective on the Modern Ritual

Tuning out the State of the Union | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

...for most of the Republic's first century, the SOTU was a modest, informational affair. Presidents sent the written address to Congress, to be read aloud by a clerk. That was thanks to President Jefferson, who thought delivering the speech before Congress assembled smacked too much of a king's "Speech from the Throne."

When the power-hungry Woodrow Wilson overturned the Jeffersonian tradition in 1913, one senator cursed the revival of "the old Federalistic custom of speeches from the throne," calling it a "cheap and tawdry imitation of English royalty."

The speech only got worse from there, especially after the advent of television and LBJ's decision to move the address to prime time. That sealed the SOTU's transformation into the modern ritual, in which the president stands at the front of the House chamber making exorbitant promises that would shame a carny barker, while congresscritters stand and clap like members of the Supreme Soviet cheering a Brezhnev speech.

 Cato Experts Live-Blogging Obama’s State of the Union Address