Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday he would give Al Gore, a Nobel prize winner, a major role in an Obama administration to address the problem of global warming.

“I would,” Obama said. “Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He’s somebody I talk to on a regular basis. I’m already consulting with him in terms of these issues, but climate change is real. It is something we have to deal with now, not 10 years from now, not 20 years from now.”

This is exactly what I want to hear. You can argue if Gore is the right man for the job, but you can’t argue over that statement. Global warming is real, it needs to be addressed NOW. Obama said he would use Gore to help forge a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions designed to lower pollution. He then went on to say that he understand this will make dirty coal energy more expensive, but that he would work to use the money raised from the system to help offset the cost for poor people. He was also not afraid to ask people to make sacrifice.

“All of us are going to have to change our habits. We are a wasteful culture,” Obama said.

After 9/11 Bush missed the biggest chance he ever had to get this country in shape. He had millions of citizens ready to give, ready to do whatever it took, and what did Bush ask of us? He asked us to keep shopping. Fuck that noise.

There is no easy way to get out of this problem. We are not going to be able to sit back in our lazy boys and just sort of wait it out. We will be forced to take action, pay more money for some things, and even *GASP* change the way we live our lives. The alternative is too horrible to imagine (even though many people have).

I was a big supporter of Dennis Kucinich, but I am not fully behind Obama.