"Instead of sitting on the sidelines, President Obama has made it clear that the US is ready to lead a global effort to combat climate change"
About this Quote
“Instead of sitting on the sidelines” is a jab dressed up as reassurance. Valerie Jarrett isn’t just praising Obama; she’s drawing a boundary between two kinds of America: the passive superpower that watches history happen and the activist one that insists on shaping it. The sports metaphor matters. It’s casual, TV-ready language that turns a sprawling, technical policy problem into a simple test of character. Either you play, or you don’t. That framing nudges the audience to treat climate leadership not as optional prudence but as a moral and strategic duty.
The line also quietly answers skeptics who saw the U.S. as hypocritical after years of stalled legislation and withdrawal-from-the-world vibes in the late Bush era. Jarrett’s “ready to lead” signals rehabilitation: America returning to multilateralism, reclaiming credibility, and using presidential authority to compensate for congressional gridlock. It’s a promise of momentum even when the domestic machinery is stuck.
“Global effort” is the real pressure point. It flatters allies (we’re back), warns rivals (we’re organizing), and reassures industry (this will be coordinated, not chaotic). Subtext: climate policy is also industrial policy and geopolitical strategy; whoever sets the rules on emissions, energy, and technology gets to set the terms of the next economy.
Jarrett, a lawyer and Obama confidante, speaks like a coalition-builder: firm on posture, vague on specifics. That’s intentional. The sentence is less a policy memo than a signal flare meant to restore U.S. legitimacy at the exact moment climate diplomacy was becoming a stage for national competence.
The line also quietly answers skeptics who saw the U.S. as hypocritical after years of stalled legislation and withdrawal-from-the-world vibes in the late Bush era. Jarrett’s “ready to lead” signals rehabilitation: America returning to multilateralism, reclaiming credibility, and using presidential authority to compensate for congressional gridlock. It’s a promise of momentum even when the domestic machinery is stuck.
“Global effort” is the real pressure point. It flatters allies (we’re back), warns rivals (we’re organizing), and reassures industry (this will be coordinated, not chaotic). Subtext: climate policy is also industrial policy and geopolitical strategy; whoever sets the rules on emissions, energy, and technology gets to set the terms of the next economy.
Jarrett, a lawyer and Obama confidante, speaks like a coalition-builder: firm on posture, vague on specifics. That’s intentional. The sentence is less a policy memo than a signal flare meant to restore U.S. legitimacy at the exact moment climate diplomacy was becoming a stage for national competence.
Quote Details
| Topic | Leadership |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by Valerie
Add to List
