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Be critical of the current president
Earlier this year, I got a letter from a South Carolina woman named
Ashley, who was expecting her third child. She was, in her words,
“extremely concerned” about the Zika virus, and what it might mean for
other pregnant women like her.
I understand that concern. As a father, Ashley’s letter has stuck with
me, and it’s why we’ve been so focused on the threat of the Zika
virus. So today, I just want to take a few minutes to let you know what
we’ve been doing in response, and to talk about what more we can all
do.
Since late last year, when the most recent outbreak of Zika started
popping up in other countries, federal agencies like the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention have been preparing for it to arrive in
the U.S. In February – more than six months ago – I asked Congress for
the emergency resources that public health experts say we need to combat
Zika. That includes things like mosquito control, tracking the spread
of the virus, accelerating new diagnostic tests and vaccines, and
monitoring women and babies with the virus.
Republicans in Congress did not share Ashley’s “extreme concern,” nor
that of other Americans expecting children. They said no. Instead, we
were forced to use resources we need to keep fighting Ebola, cancer, and
other diseases. We took that step because we have a responsibility to
protect the American people. But that’s not a sustainable solution.
And Congress has been on a seven-week recess without doing anything to
protect Americans from the Zika virus.
So my Administration has done what we can on our own. Our primary
focus has been protecting pregnant women and families planning to have
children. For months now, the CDC has been working closely with
officials in Florida and other states. NIH and other agencies have
moved aggressively to develop a vaccine. And we’re working with the
private sector to develop more options to test for and prevent
infection. For weeks, a CDC emergency response team has been on the
ground in South Florida, working alongside the excellent public health
officials there – folks who have a strong track record of responding
aggressively to the mosquitoes that carry viruses like Zika. They know
what they’re doing.
Still, there’s a lot more everybody can and should do. And that begins with some basic facts.
Zika spreads mainly through the bite of a certain mosquito. Most
infected people don’t show any symptoms. But the disease can cause
brain defects and other serious problems when pregnant women become
infected. Even if you’re not pregnant, you can play a role in
protecting future generations. Because Zika can be spread through
unprotected sex, it’s not just women who need to be careful – men do
too. That includes using condoms properly.
If you live in or travel to an area where Zika has been found, protect
yourself against the mosquitoes that carry this disease. Use insect
repellant – and keep using it for a few weeks, even after you come
home. Wear long sleeves and long pants to make bites less likely. Stay
in places with air conditioning and window screens. If you can, get
rid of standing water where mosquitoes breed. And to learn more about
how to keep your family safe, just visit CDC.gov.
But every day that Republican leaders in Congress wait to do their job,
every day our experts have to wait to get the resources they need –
that has real-life consequences. Weaker mosquito-control efforts.
Longer wait times to get accurate diagnostic results. Delayed
vaccines. It puts more Americans at risk.
One Republican Senator has said that “There is no such thing as a
Republican position on Zika or Democrat position on Zika because these
mosquitoes bite everyone.”
I agree. We need more Republicans to act that way because this is more
important than politics. It’s about young mothers like Ashley. Today,
her new baby Savannah is healthy and happy. That’s priority number
one. And that’s why Republicans in Congress should treat Zika like the
threat that it is and make this their first order of business when they
come back to Washington after Labor Day. That means working in a
bipartisan way to fully fund our Zika response. A fraction of the
funding won’t get the job done. You can’t solve a fraction of a
disease. Our experts know what they’re doing. They just need the
resources to do it.
So make your voices heard. And as long as I’m President, we’ll keep
doing everything we can to slow the spread of this virus, and put our
children’s futures first.
In choosing Stephen Bannon to be the CEO of his campaign, Donald
Trump has accomplished the extraordinary: He has found somebody as
outrageous as he is.
Bannon, who had been publisher of the
far-right website Breitbart, has called the pope a “commie” and said
Catholics are trying to boost Hispanic immigration because their “church
is dying.” He called Gabby Giffords, a former congresswoman who was
shot in the head, a “human shield” and the mayor of London a “radical
Muslim.” Hillary Clinton, in Bannon’s telling, is a “grifter” who would
take the country to the “last days of Sodom.”
The new Trump
adviser calls himself a “populist nationalist” — his hiring has been
cheered by white supremacists — and calls his fellow believers a “small,
crazy wing” of the conservative movement. He has referred to the Civil
War as the “war of Southern Independence” fought over “economic
development.” He found “zero evidence” of racial motives in the Trayvon
Martin shooting and warned that “cities could be washed away in an orgy
of de-gentrification.”
The Trump campaign’s chief executive
believes the Obama administration is “importing more hating Muslims” and
asks whether Clinton is “complicit in a fifth column.” He doesn’t think
Huma Abedin, a Muslim aide to Clinton, should have a security
clearance, and he has alleged that Clinton’s vice-presidential nominee,
Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), has an “affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.”
He argued that Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment case, which forced
the ouster of Roger Ailes at Fox News Channel, was a “total dud,” and he
alleged the existence of a “militant-feminist legal wrecking crew.”
Fox
News, in Bannon’s view, is a “centrist” outlet — and compared to
Breitbart, it most certainly is. The site, which was closer to the
mainstream under its late founder, Andrew Breitbart, has run these
headlines under Bannon’s leadership:
“Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.”
“Political Correctness Protects Muslim Rape Culture.”
“Suck It Up Buttercups: Dangerous Faggot Tour Returns to Colleges in September.”
“The Solution to Online ‘Harassment’ Is Simple: Women Should Log Off.”
“Two Months Left Until Obama Gives Dictators Control of Internet.”
“There’s No Hiring Bias Against Women in Tech, They Just Suck at Interviews.”
“Trannies Whine About Hilarious Bruce Jenner Billboard.”
“Khizr Khan Believes the Constitution ‘Must Always Be Subordinated to the Sharia.’ ”
Bannon’s
Breitbart said the gay-pride flag is viewed as a “symbol of
anti-Christian hate” and said birth control makes a woman into a “slut”
and a “hideous monster,” arguing: “Your birth control injection will add
on pounds that will prevent the injection you really want — of man
meat.”
Trump echoes conspiracy theories proposed by Breitbart,
and Breitbart has relentlessly promoted Trump. In short, Trump found in
Bannon a character like himself: a bully who targets racial and
religious minorities, immigrants and women. After Trump’s campaign
manager was caught on tape roughing up Breitbart reporter Michelle
Fields at an event, Fields and other staffers quit, complaining that
Bannon’s management team sided with Trump.
In his writings and
broadcast commentary, Bannon, a veteran and former banker, has argued
that immigrants — legal as well as illegal — are to blame for crime,
terrorism and disease. He disparages “anchor babies” and says FBI
Director James Comey’s recommendation not to prosecute Clinton is
“inextricably linked” to anti-police violence. He speaks of Megyn
Kelly’s “blonde ambition” and alleges that the military is trying to
“eradicate Christianity.” To counter “the Islamization of the United
States,” he believes authorities should be going into mosques to find
bad guys and “rounding them up.”
Breitbart has a tag for “black
crime” and stokes fear of race wars with headlines such as “Race Murder
in Virginia,” “Black Suspects Stalk Robbery Victim in Philadelphia,”
“Career Criminal Accused of Assaulting Victim, Calling Her ‘White
Bitch,’ ” “Black Rape Gangs Violate Two Detroit Women” and “Black Mob
Swarms Georgia Walmart to See ‘How Much Damage’ They Could Do.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center protests that Breitbart “has been openly
promoting the core issues of the Alt-Right, introducing these racist
ideas to its readership.” Breitbart had a “lengthy defense” of white
nationalists that ignored their openly racist views, the SPLC said.
Breitbart likened Pamela Geller’s “Muhammad Cartoon Contest” to the
Selma-to-Montgomery march. The outlet has gone after the “big gay hate
machine” and suggested that “the next step for marriage equality” is
“likely polygamy.”
Breitbart ran a doctored photo showing House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in a bikini on all fours with her tongue
out. It reported that Planned Parenthood was “comfortably surpassing
Hitler” in its “body count.” It said Trump’s bogus claim that thousands
of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had been
“100 percent vindicated,” and it alleged a “smoking gun” connecting the
9/11 hijackers to a “Bush family friend.”
There is more, but you don’t need to read it here. Just wait for Trump to say it.
HAS
the party of Lincoln just nominated a racist to be president? We
shouldn’t toss around such accusations lightly, so I’ve looked back over
more than 40 years of Donald Trump’s career to see what the record
says.
One
early red flag arose in 1973, when President Richard Nixon’s Justice
Department — not exactly the radicals of the day — sued Trump and his
father, Fred Trump, for systematically discriminating against blacks in
housing rentals.
I’ve
waded through 1,021 pages of documents from that legal battle, and they
are devastating. Donald Trump was then president of the family real
estate firm, and the government amassed overwhelming evidence that the
company had a policy of discriminating against blacks, including those
serving in the military.
To
prove the discrimination, blacks were repeatedly dispatched as testers
to Trump apartment buildings to inquire about vacancies, and white
testers were sent soon after. Repeatedly, the black person was told that
nothing was available, while the white tester was shown apartments for
immediate rental.
A
former building superintendent working for the Trumps explained that he
was told to code any application by a black person with the letter C,
for colored, apparently so the office would know to reject it. A Trump
rental agent said the Trumps wanted to rent only to “Jews and
executives,” and discouraged renting to blacks.
Donald
Trump furiously fought the civil rights suit in the courts and the
media, but the Trumps eventually settled on terms that were widely
regarded as a victory for the government. Three years later, the
government sued the Trumps again, for continuing to discriminate.
In
fairness, those suits date from long ago, and the discriminatory
policies were probably put in place not by Donald Trump but by his
father. Fred Trump appears to have been arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally
in 1927; Woody Guthrie, who lived in a Trump property in the 1950s,
lambasted Fred Trump in recently discovered papers for stirring racial hatred.
Yet
even if Donald Trump inherited his firm’s discriminatory policies, he
allied himself decisively in the 1970s housing battle against the civil
rights movement.
Another
revealing moment came in 1989, when New York City was convulsed by the
“Central Park jogger” case, a rape and beating of a young white woman.
Five black and Latino teenagers were arrested.
Trump
stepped in, denounced Mayor Ed Koch’s call for peace and bought
full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty. The five
teenagers spent years in prison before being exonerated. In retrospect,
they suffered a modern version of a lynching, and Trump played a part in
whipping up the crowds.
As
Trump moved into casinos, discrimination followed. In the 1980s,
according to a former Trump casino worker, Kip Brown, who was quoted
by The New Yorker: “When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the
bosses would order all the black people off the floor. … They put us all
in the back.”
In
1991, a book by John O’Donnell, who had been president of the Trump
Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, quoted Trump as criticizing a
black accountant and saying: “Black guys counting my money! I hate it.
The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that
wear yarmulkes every day. … I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s
probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really
is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” O’Donnell
wrote that for months afterward, Trump pressed him to fire the black
accountant, until the man resigned of his own accord.
Trump eventually denied making those comments. But in 1997 in a Playboy interview, he conceded “the stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.”
The
recent record may be more familiar: Trump’s suggestions that President
Obama was born in Kenya; his insinuations that Obama was admitted to Ivy
League schools only because of affirmative action; his denunciations
of Mexican immigrants as, “in many cases, criminals, drug dealers,
rapists”; his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United
States; his dismissal of an American-born judge of Mexican ancestry as a
Mexican who cannot fairly hear his case; his reluctance
to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan in a television interview;
his retweet of a graphic suggesting that 81 percent of white murder
victims are killed by blacks (the actual figure is about 15 percent);
and so on.
Trump has also retweeted messages
from white supremacists or Nazi sympathizers, including two from an
account called @WhiteGenocideTM with a photo of the American Nazi
Party’s founder.
Trump
repeatedly and vehemently denies any racism, and he has deleted some
offensive tweets. The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi racist website that has endorsed Trump, sees that as going “full-wink-wink-wink.”
(Update:
After this column was published, the Trump campaign emailed me the
following statement: “Donald Trump has a lifetime record of inclusion
and has publicly rebuked groups who seek to discriminate against others
on numerous occasions. To suggest otherwise is a complete fabrication of
the truth.”)
My
view is that “racist” can be a loaded word, a conversation stopper more
than a clarifier, and that we should be careful not to use it simply as
an epithet. Moreover, Muslims and Latinos can be of any race, so some
of those statements technically reflect not so much racism as bigotry.
It’s also true that with any single statement, it is possible that Trump
misspoke or was misconstrued.
And yet.
Here
we have a man who for more than four decades has been repeatedly
associated with racial discrimination or bigoted comments about
minorities, some of them made on television for all to see. While any
one episode may be ambiguous, what emerges over more than four decades
is a narrative arc, a consistent pattern — and I don’t see what else to
call it butracism.
Hi everybody. Earlier this summer, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I
headed west—to the national parks at Carlsbad Caverns and Yosemite. And
I’ve got to say, it was a breath of fresh air. We explored hundreds of
feet underground, standing beneath dripping stalactites in New Mexico.
We hiked up a misty trail next to a waterfall in California. And I even
took a few pictures of my own – not bad, right?
But the truth is, no camera – especially one with me behind it – can
fully capture the beauty and majesty of America’s national parks. From
Glacier and Denali to Gettysburg and Seneca Falls, our more than 400
parks and other sites capture our history and our sense of wonder. As
FDR once said: “There is nothing so American as our national parks… the
fundamental idea behind the parks… is that the country belongs to the
people.”
This month, we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National
Park Service. And I want to encourage all of you to “Find Your Park” so
that you and your family can experience these sacred places, too. If
you’re a military family, you can even get in free through Michelle and
Jill Biden’s Joining Forces initiative. And if you’ve got a fourth
grader in your family, you can get a free pass, too, by going to
EveryKidInAPark.org.
I hope you do. Because all across the country, the National Park
Service is preparing for a big year. We’re revitalizing a grove of giant
Sequoias in Yosemite; repairing the Lincoln Memorial; and enhancing the
iconic entrance to our first national park at Yellowstone.
As President, I’m proud to have built upon America’s tradition of
conservation. We’ve protected more than 265 million acres of public
lands and waters – more than any administration in history.
We’ve
recovered endangered wildlife species and restored vulnerable
ecosystems. We’ve designated new monuments to Cesar Chavez in
California, the Pullman porters in Chicago, and the folks who stood up
for equality at Stonewall in New York – to better reflect the full
history of our nation. And we’ve got more work to do to preserve our
lands, culture, and history. So we’re not done yet.
As we look ahead, the threat of climate change means that protecting
our public lands and waters is more important than ever. Rising
temperatures could mean no more glaciers in Glacier National Park. No
more Joshua Trees in Joshua Tree National Park. Rising seas could
destroy vital ecosystems in the Everglades, even threaten Ellis Island
and the Statue of Liberty.
So in the coming years and decades, we have to have the foresight,
and the faith in our future, to do what it takes to protect our parks
and protect our planet for generations to come. Because these parks
belong to all of us. And they’re worth celebrating – not just this year,
but every year.
Thanks everybody. Have a great weekend. And see you in
the parks!
In the past 50 years, Earth's oceans have been depleted and
acidified to alarming degrees. Sylvia Earle, a longtime marine
scientist, explains her plan to save at least a small part of them --
along with our planet.
The swarm of carangidae looks like a silver wall in front of the divers.
Bright sunlight breaks through the water surface and makes the fishes'
scales shimmer like an artfully forged mirror. As if following an
invisible sign, the animals abruptly turn and fly up before quickly
returning, as one undulating mass.
Sylvia Earle, 80, glides slowly past the bodies, an underwater camera
in her hand. The photo yield has been plentiful today, on the reef at
Cabo Pulmo, a small coastal town on the southern end of Mexico's Baja
California peninsula. The tiny village on the Sea of Cortez had once
been a normal fishing village. The reef provided a decent income for a
handful of families, but then the wealth of fish spread by word of
mouth.
First came the recreational fishermen, then the trawlers with their
longlines and nets. By 1980, the reef had been fished bare. After
pressure from locals, Cabo Pulmo was declared a national park. Since
then, fishing has been banned here. In the last three decades, the
biomass of fish has more than quadrupled. And the people are earning
good money from ecotourism.
That's why Earle has selected Cabo Pulmo as a "Hope Spot." She has
identified about 200 of these kinds of locations through her foundation,
Mission Blue. Together with the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), she is working on a global action plan
for marine reserves. In an interview, she explains why the ocean is so
important for life on earth. SPIEGEL: What is it that's so special about Cabo Pulmo?
Earle: Cabo Pulmo is a small place, but it is making a big
difference in terms of inspiring hope. This village shows that if you
make an investment, care for a place, it can recover. The fish had been
depleted, the coral reefs were in trouble, but by taking the pressure
off, by creating a safe place in the ocean for the wildlife that is
here, recovery has taken place. The people took their ocean
back, replaced the fishing with ecotourism, and the community is
thriving. What I love about this place is the idea that you can use the
ocean without using it up. People here show us that the best way to
ensure continued prosperity is through sustainable use. The living ocean
is their bank, their treasure, their hope.
SPIEGEL: What is the current situation in the Earth's oceans? What kind of crisis are we facing?
Earle: Since I began exploring the ocean in the 1950s, 90 percent
of the big fish have been stripped away. Tuna, sharks, swordfish, cod,
halibut, you name it, the numbers have just collapsed. Also, about half
of the coral reefs are gone, globally, from where they were just a few
decades ago. We have found ways to capture, kill and market ocean
wildlife on an unprecedented scale. It's an absolute catastrophe. The
ocean seemed like a sea of Eden. But now we are facing paradise lost.
SPIEGEL: Aren't you exaggerating? After all, the ocean seems to be endless.
Earle: We humans have this idea that the ocean is so big, so
vast, so resilient that it doesn't matter what we do to it. That may
have been true 1,000 years ago. But in the last 100, especially the last
50 years, we have destroyed the assets that make our lives possible. I
am haunted by tomorrow's children asking why we didn't do something on
our watch to save sharks, bluefin tuna, squids and coral reefs -- while
there was still time. We are depleting this immense diversity and
abundance of life, and it matters tremendously for the future of the
planet.
SPIEGEL: Why is that?
Earle: Life in the ocean makes Earth hospitable. We are sailing
along in the universe and we have a blue engine that is making
everything alright. The ocean governs the climate and the weather, it is
taking care of the temperature and it is shaping the chemistry of our
planet. The oxygen cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle, the
water cycle -- all of these are linked to the existence of life in the
sea. The Earth is a tiny blue speck in a universe of unfriendly options.
And the ocean is our life support system. No blue, no green. It's
really a miracle that we have got a place that works in our favor. And
if you think the ocean isn't important, imagine Earth without it.
SPIEGEL: Mars comes to mind….
Earle: Indeed. There was a movie recently, "The Martian," that
says it all. You can survive, but what kind of life is that? We are
blessed with a place that is open to the universe and, despite this,
supports this very thin envelope of air we call atmosphere, which holds
just the right amount of oxygen for us to breathe. Our job is to keep
what is working intact and not destroy what we have got. In the past few
decades, Earth's natural systems have endured more pressure than in all
preceding human history. What we put into the atmosphere in terms of
burning fuel is unprecedented. We are not only warming the ocean and the
planet as a whole, but we are also acidifying the ocean and changing
its chemistry. The ocean is dying, and we have no place to escape to if
this experiment doesn't go in our favor.
SPIEGEL: You spend 300 days a year traveling as kind of an ambassador for the ocean. What drives you?
Earle: If I seem like a radical it's because I have seen things
that others have not. I am driven by what I know; that the world I love
is in trouble. I've spent thousands of hours under water. And even in
the deepest dive I have ever made, 2.5 miles (about 4 kilometers) down, I
saw trash and other tangible evidence of our presence. When I was 12,
we moved from New Jersey to Florida. The Gulf of Mexico was literally my
backyard. Every day, I could see the ocean. At low tide I went out and
played in seagrass meadows that used to come right up to the shore,
filled with tiny seahorses, pipefish and soft corals. There was so much
life! But then I witnessed the change, the loss of the shoreline, the
loss of the mangrove trees, the loss of the seagrass meadows. Shallow
bay areas were turned into parking lots. People call that reclamation,
but it is the transformation of a healthy living system into something
that is barren and dead.
SPIEGEL: What do you suggest doing to help the ocean?
Earle: When you are a child you learn your alphabet, your
numbers, but increasingly, we must learn from the earliest stages that
the highest priority has to be to maintain the world as a safe place for
humankind. Fortunately, we know more about the problems that we have
than in all preceding history. We know now the consequences of the
things that we put into the air, into the water -- of the way we treat
life on Earth. We understand that we must make peace with nature -- that
our lives depend on it. With knowing comes caring. The next 10 years
could be the most important in the next 10,000. It is not too late to
turn things around. We still have 10 percent of the sharks. We still
have half of the coral reefs. However, if we wait another 50 years,
opportunities might well be gone. SPIEGEL: Your foundation supports the designation and protection of so called "Hope Spots" around the world. What are you aiming for?
Earle: There are now more than 4,000 places in the sea around the
world that have some kind of protection. The bad news: You have to look
hard to find them. What you find instead is destructive fishing,
mining, gas and oil exploration. Only two percent of the ocean is fully
protected right now. We believe that this area has to increase at least
tenfold by 2020. That's why we look globally for places that are in
great shape, pristine areas that, if protected, can serve as a source of
renewal. We have about 200 places already nominated as Hope Spots. Hope
Spots encourage people to take the initiative, to take action on a
community level.
SPIEGEL: Most people, however, feel powerless. What can each one of us do individually?
Earle: Everybody can make choices that will make peace with the
natural world. You can choose not to eat tuna, not to eat swordfish, not
even to eat the little herring. Eating wildlife is probably not the
smartest thing that we can do in terms of maintaining the integrity of
natural systems. Fish from all over the world, from deep in the sea,
wind up in countries from Germany to Japan. That is just crazy. We are
taking way more out of the ocean than the ocean can replenish. You
should ask where your food is coming from. You should know what is taken
out of the ecosystem in order to give you a moment's sustenance. Give
the ocean a break. Give yourself a break. If you make the choice to just
go with the flow, that is a choice to make a difference in a negative
way.
SPIEGEL: What gives you hope?
Earle: Places like Cabo Pulmo do. Imagine taking the miracle that
happened here and spreading hope around the world so people change the
way they think about respecting nature, treating all creatures,
including one another, with dignity and understanding. You can do that
too, in your own life, in your community, in your country and
internationally. With care and protection, with safe havens in the
ocean, there is still a good chance that we can turn things around. We
don't have to be that greedy generation that just continued to take down
the underpinnings of what makes the planet work in our favor. Use your
power to do whatever it takes to secure for humankind an enduring place
on this little blue speck in the universe -- our only hope.
Sylvia Earle, born in 1935, took part in one of the very first
marine research expeditions in the Indian Ocean in 1964. In 1979, she
set foot on the ocean floor near Hawaii, encased in a steel diving suit,
the legendary Jim Suit. Soon after, she descended to a depth of 1,000
meters on board the Deep Rover, one of the world's first deep-sea
submarines. Earle later became a scientist at the US National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration. Today, she travels around the world 300
days a year as an ambassador for the ocean.
Hi, everybody. One of the most urgent challenges of our time is
climate change. We know that 2015 surpassed 2014 as the warmest year on
record – and 2016 is on pace to be even hotter.
When I took office, I said this was something we couldn’t kick down the
road any longer – that our children’s future depended on our action.
So we got to work, and over the past seven-and-a-half years, we’ve made
ambitious investments in clean energy, and ambitious reductions in our
carbon emissions. We’ve multiplied wind power threefold. We’ve
multiplied solar power more than thirtyfold. In parts of America, these
clean power sources are finally cheaper than dirtier, conventional
power. And carbon pollution from our energy sector is at its lowest
level in 25 years, even as we’re continuing to grow our economy.
We’ve invested in energy efficiency, and we’re slashing carbon
emissions from appliances, homes, and businesses – saving families money
on their energy bills. We’re reforming how we manage federal coal
resources, which supply roughly 40% of America’s coal. We’ve set the
first-ever national standards limiting the amount of carbon pollution
power plants can release into the sky.
We also set standards to increase the distance our cars and light
trucks can go on a gallon of gas every year through 2025. And they’re
working. At a time when we’ve seen auto sales surge, manufacturers are
innovating and bringing new technology to market faster than expected.
Over 100 cars, SUVs, and pick-up trucks on the market today already meet
our vehicles standards ahead of schedule. And we’ve seen a boom in the
plug-in electric vehicle market – with more models, lower battery
costs, and more than 16,000 charging stations.
But we’re not done yet. In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll release a
second round of fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles. We’ll
take steps to meet the goal we set with Canada and Mexico to achieve 50
percent clean power across North America by 2025. And we’ll continue
to protect our lands and waters so that our kids and grandkids can enjoy
our most beautiful spaces for generations.
There’s still much more to do. But there’s no doubt that America has
become a global leader in the fight against climate change. Last year,
that leadership helped us bring nearly 200 nations together in Paris
around the most ambitious agreement in history to save the one planet
we’ve got. That’s not something to tear up – it’s something to build
upon. And if we keep pushing, and leading the world in the right
direction, there’s no doubt that, together, we can leave a better,
cleaner, safer future for our children.
Every four years, our nation’s attention turns to a competition that’s
as heated as it is historic. People pack arenas and wave flags.
Journalists judge every move and overanalyze every misstep.
Sometimes
we’re let down, but more often we’re lifted up. And just when we think
we’ve seen it all, we see something happen in a race that we’ve never
seen before.
I’m talking, of course, about the Summer Olympics.
This month, Rio is hosting the first-ever Games held in South America –
and we’re ready to root on Team USA. We’re excited to see who will
inspire us this time; whose speed will remind us of Jesse Owens; whose
feats will remind us of Bob Beamon’s amazing jump? Which young American
will leave us awestruck, the way a teenager named Kerri Strug did when
she stuck that landing, and when another kid named Cassius Clay gave the
world its first glimpse of greatness? Who will match Mary Lou Retton’s
perfection; or pull off an upset like Rulon Gardner’s; or dominate like
the Dream Team?
That’s why we watch. And we have a lot to look forward to this year.
Team USA reminds the world why America always sets the gold standard:
We’re a nation of immigrants that finds strength in our diversity and
unity in our national pride.
Our athletes hail from 46 states, D.C., and the Virgin Islands. Our
team boasts the most women who have ever competed for any nation at any
Olympic Games. It includes active-duty members of our military and our
veterans. We’ve got basketball players who stand nearly seven feet tall
and a gymnast who’s 4-foot-8. And Team USA spans generations: a few
athletes who are almost as old as I am, and one born just a year before
my younger daughter.
Our roster includes a gymnast from Texas who’s so trailblazing, they
named a flip after her. A young woman who persevered through a tough
childhood in Flint, Michigan, to become the first American woman to win
gold in the boxing ring. And a fencing champion from suburban Jersey
who’ll become the first American Olympian to wear a hijab while
competing. And on our Paralympic team, we’re honored to be represented
by a Navy veteran who lost his sight while serving in Afghanistan and
continues to show us what courage looks like every time he jumps in the
pool.
When you watch these Games, remember that it’s about so much more than
the moments going by in a flash. Think about the countless hours these
athletes put in, knowing it could mean the difference in a split-second
victory that earns them a lifetime of pride, and gives us enduring
memories. It’s about the character it takes to train your heart out,
even when no one’s watching. Just hard work, focus, and a dream.
That’s the Olympic spirit – and it’s the American spirit, too.
In our Olympians, we recognize that no one accomplishes greatness
alone. Even solo athletes have a coach beside them and a country behind
them. In a season of intense politics, let’s cherish this opportunity
to come together around one flag. In a time of challenge around the
world, let’s appreciate the peaceful competition and sportsmanship we’ll
see, the hugs and high-fives and the empathy and understanding between
rivals who know we share a common humanity. Let’s honor the courage it
takes, not only to cross the finish line first, but merely to stand in
the starting blocks. And let’s see in ourselves the example they set –
proving that no matter where you’re from, with determination and
discipline, there’s nothing you can’t achieve.
That idea – that you can succeed no matter where you’re from – is
especially true this year. We’ll cheer on athletes on the first-ever
Olympic Refugee Team: Ten competitors from the Congo, Ethiopia, South
Sudan, and Syria who personify endurance.
To all of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes wearing the red, white,
and blue – know that your country couldn’t be prouder of you. We admire
all the work you’ve done to get to Rio and everything you’ll do there.
Thank you for showing the world the best of America. And know that
when you get up on that podium, we’ll be singing the National Anthem –
and maybe even shedding a tear – right alongside you.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hi, folks. Joe Biden here and I’m
sitting with Tim Lewis, a retired federal judge who was nominated to the
bench by a Republican President and confirmed by a Democratic
Senate—within four weeks of a presidential election.
JUDGE LEWIS: Hello, everyone. That’s right. And I’m
living proof that President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court—Chief
Judge Merrick Garland—deserves similar consideration by today’s Senate.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Not only because Merrick Garland
is recognized—without exception—by the right and the left as one of
America’s sharpest legal minds and a model of integrity.
JUDGE LEWIS: But also because that’s what the
Constitution requires. The sitting President shall—not may—but shall
nominate someone to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, with the advice
and consent of the Senate. That includes consulting and voting.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Here’s how it works. For 17 years,
I was chairman or ranking member of Senate Judiciary Committee, which
overseas nominations to the Court. I presided over nine total
nominations—more than anyone alive. Some I supported. Others I didn’t.
But every nominee was greeted by committee members. Every nominee got a
committee hearing. Every nominee got out of the committee to the
Senate floor, even when a nominee did not receive majority support in my
committee. And every nominee, including Justice Kennedy—in an election
year—got an up or down vote by the Senate. Not much of the time. Not
most of the time. Every single time. That’s the Constitution’s clear
rule of Advice and Consent. And that’s the rule being violated today by
Senate Republicans.
Nobody is suggesting that Senators have to vote “yes” on a nominee.
Voting “no” is always an option. But saying nothing, seeing nothing,
reading nothing, hearing nothing, and deciding in advance simply to turn
your backs—is not an option the Constitution leaves open.
JUDGE LEWIS: And it has real consequences for all of
us. In the four months since Merrick Garland’s nomination, we’ve already
seen how the Senate’s refusal to act is preventing the Court from
fulfilling its duty of interpreting what the law is and resolving
conflicts in lower courts. Historic obstruction is leading to greater
litigation costs and delays—the burden falling mostly on average
Americans rather than corporations with endless resources. Unresolved
decisions by the Supreme Court are leading to federal laws that should
apply to the whole country being constitutional in some parts but
unconstitutional in others. If this continues, our freedom of speech,
our freedom to practice our faith, our right to vote, our right to
privacy—all could depend on where we happen to live.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And the longer the vacancy remains
unfilled, the more serious the problem—with greater confusion and
uncertainty about our safety and security. If you have eight Justices on
a case, Justice Scalia himself wrote, that it raises the, “possibility
that, by reason of a tie vote, the Court will find itself unable to
resolve the significant legal issue presented by the case.” And if
Republican Senators fail to act, it could be an entire year before a
fully staffed Supreme Court can resolve any significant issue before it.
Folks, there’s enough dysfunction in Washington, D.C. Now is not the time for it to spread to the Supreme Court.
JUDGE LEWIS: And we’re better than what we’re seeing.
As a country, we’re only as strong as the traditions we value—that we
sustain by dedicating ourselves to something bigger than ourselves.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Folks, the defining difference of
our great democracy has always been that we can reason our way through
to what ails us and then act as citizens, voters, and public servants to
fix it. But we have to act in good faith. For unless we find common
ground, we cannot govern. For the sake of the country we love—we all
have to do our job. The President has done his. Senate Republicans must
do theirs.
