President Obama mocked Republicans as “flat-earthers” for their preference for oil drilling rather than green subsidies in order to advance a “policy message,” not his reelection campaign, according to Obama’s spokesman.
“I think calling them flat-earthers is appropriate,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. “No, it’s a policy message!” he added when a reporter suggested it sounded like campaign rhetoric.
Obama directed the comment at the Republican presidential hopefuls during an energy policy speech. “Lately, we’ve heard a lot of professional politicians, a lot of the folks who are running for a certain office — who shall go unnamed — they’ve been talking down new sources of energy,” he said, before digging his rivals while seeming to compare himself to Christopher Columbus. “If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society,” he joked.
Carney said that the president was trying to emphasize that drilling alone is not a “plausible” path to energy independence.
