Hope and Fail

President cranks up Oval Office thermostat

Apparently President Obama, who came to Washington via Chicago, likes things warm in the Oval Office (while telling D.C. schools to toughen up during cold weather).

From the New York Times:

The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

I’m no gardening expert, but according to the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, orchids like temperatures in the high 70s during the day.

So the president likes it warm. Fair enough. But according to Obama the candidate, cranking up the thermostat doesn’t show good leadership. He told a crowd in Roseburg, Ore., on May 17, 2008:

We can’t — drive our SUVs and you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on you know, 72 degrees at all times, and whether we’re living in the desert or we’re living in the tundra, and then just expect that every other country’s going say OK.

You guys go ahead and keep on using 25 percent of the world’s energy. Even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us. That’s not — that’s not leadership.