On the campaign trail in May of last year, Barack Obama chastised Americans for failing to make sacrifices to address global warming. Upon entering the White House, however, the new president seems to have forgotten about leading by example.
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say ‘OK.’ … That’s not leadership,” Obama said last May.
According to The New York Times, Obama now has cranked up the White House thermostat, and staffers have jettisoned their suit coats.
“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” Obama’s senior advisor, David Axelrod, told the Times. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”
— James M. Taylor