"We started focusing on this in earnest late summer and early fall. I can build more power plants. In the 12 years before us, not a single plant of major consequence was built"
About this Quote
A politician under siege reaches for the language of belated urgency and concrete achievement. Gray Davis is talking like a manager who just found the fire alarm: “in earnest” signals that earlier efforts weren’t serious enough, while “late summer and early fall” quietly narrows the timeline to a season of triage. The sentence cadence is defensive but practiced: first, establish diligence; second, promise capacity (“I can build more power plants”); third, assign blame for the mess.
The subtext is California’s early-2000s energy crisis, when blackouts and price spikes made electricity feel like a daily referendum on competence. Davis tries to convert a complex market-and-regulation fiasco into a simpler morality play about neglected infrastructure. “I can build” is a deliberately muscular verb choice; it casts him as the doer in a system where governors don’t literally pour concrete, and where building a major plant is measured in years, permits, lawsuits, and financing - not in campaign cycles.
Then comes the sharpest move: “In the 12 years before us…” That’s not history, it’s a political frame. Twelve years is long enough to indict predecessors (and a bipartisan governing establishment) but also short enough to avoid deeper structural causes: deregulation design flaws, utility insolvency, and market manipulation. The phrase “major consequence” is artfully vague, letting him claim a sweeping failure without litigating specifics.
It works because it’s both a promise and an alibi: I’m acting now; the crisis was inherited. In a recall-era atmosphere, that mix is less about policy than survival.
The subtext is California’s early-2000s energy crisis, when blackouts and price spikes made electricity feel like a daily referendum on competence. Davis tries to convert a complex market-and-regulation fiasco into a simpler morality play about neglected infrastructure. “I can build” is a deliberately muscular verb choice; it casts him as the doer in a system where governors don’t literally pour concrete, and where building a major plant is measured in years, permits, lawsuits, and financing - not in campaign cycles.
Then comes the sharpest move: “In the 12 years before us…” That’s not history, it’s a political frame. Twelve years is long enough to indict predecessors (and a bipartisan governing establishment) but also short enough to avoid deeper structural causes: deregulation design flaws, utility insolvency, and market manipulation. The phrase “major consequence” is artfully vague, letting him claim a sweeping failure without litigating specifics.
It works because it’s both a promise and an alibi: I’m acting now; the crisis was inherited. In a recall-era atmosphere, that mix is less about policy than survival.
Quote Details
| Topic | Vision & Strategy |
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