Reply #42: Link to article in Philadelphia Inquirer [View All]

"Look at the Obama thing not in the specifics but in the broad idea of thinking outside the limits of the debate," said Henry Lee, a Harvard energy professor who served as energy secretary to Democratic and Republican governors in Massachusetts.

"Leaving things the way they are, we're just continuing the stalemate," said Linda Stuntz, a former deputy energy secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
...
Peter Fox-Penner, a former senior energy official under President Bill Clinton, said Obama's idea "resonated better than anything else that has been proposed" in at least five years to raise fuel-efficiency standards.

Just as Bush's energy-conservation proposals were "a gigantic step toward the middle," Fox-Penner said, Obama's plan shows that Democrats realize that Detroit is in bad financial shape and needs help to change its gas-guzzling ways.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/14018242.htm