Obama: When Reagan Was Governor of California, the Smog Was So Bad It Was Like Beijing Now

[rangerrebew]

Obama: When Reagan Was Governor of California, the Smog Was So Bad It Was Like Beijing Now

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking at a town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, La., last week [1], President Barack Obama told the audience that when Ronald Reagan was governor of California the smog sometimes got so bad that “people just wouldn’t go outside.”

“And if you had asthma or some respiratory disease, you might die,” said Obama.

“I remember as recently as 1979, when I first started college--I started college in Los Angeles--when I went running, the first week I was there, after about five minutes I’d start feeling a burning in my chest,” said the president. “And it was just me sucking in soot and smog.”

Ronald Reagan was first elected governor of California in 1966 [2] and was sworn-in as governor on Jan. 2, 1967. In 1970, Reagan was re-elected governor of California and was sworn-in at the beginning of January 1971. He served as governor of Califorinia until the beginning of January 1975.

Obama attended Occidental College in California from 1979 to 1981 before transferring to Columbia Universit [3]y in New York.

In 1979, Jerry Brown was in the second term of his first two terms as governor of California [4]. He was first elected in November 1974 and became governor in January 1975 when Reagan left office. He was elected to his second term in 1978.

Here is an excerpt from President Obama's remarks at the town hall meetin [1]g:

    “First of all, it’s important for us to understand how much environmental progress we’ve made in my lifetime. And the reason is, sometimes when we talk about the environment, it sounds like something far away. But we don't realize, we don't remember, what we’ve accomplished already.

    “In the 1970s, in California, there would be regular days where people did not go outside.  When Ronald Reagan was governor in California, there were regularly days where the smog was so bad, it was like it is in Beijing now. People just wouldn’t go outside. And if you had asthma or some respiratory disease, you might die.

    “I remember as recently as 1979, when I first started college -- I started college in Los Angeles -- when I went running, the first week I was there, after about five minutes I’d start feeling a burning in my chest.  And it was just me sucking in soot and smog.  And now you go there and that smog isn’t there.  And the reason is because we instituted things like catalytic converters and unleaded gasoline.  And we changed the technologies to reduce smog.”

Source URL: http://cnsnews.com/blog/cnsnewscom-staff/obama-when-reagan-was-governor-california-smog-was-so-bad-it-was-beijing-now

[rangerrebew]

More Obama lies.  Yes, southern California had a problem.  I was on a ship stationed, first, in Alameda then San Diego.  Operating off of LA you might see a smog bank 50 miles out to sea if the wind were from the east.  But the smog didn't hide the sky as it does in Beijing.  And there was very little problem in northern California. Once again, he is using a painter's brush to paint a 1/4 wide line.

[mountaineer]

I doubt he ever "went running," either. 

[Millee]

I doubt he ever "went running," either. 

Not the way he smokes.   

[mountaineer]

Maybe the "burning in his chest" was from the dope - and tobacco -  he was smoking.

[libertybele]

Imagine.  In a little over a year we will be able to sit back and reminisce about all the failures of Obama and how things are going to be so much better under a President Cruz!   

[aligncare]

More Obama lies.  Yes, southern California had a problem.  I was on a ship stationed, first, in Alameda then San Diego.  Operating off of LA you might see a smog bank 50 miles out to sea if the wind were from the east.  But the smog didn't hide the sky as it does in Beijing.  And there was very little problem in northern California. Once again, he is using a painter's brush to paint a 1/4 wide line.

I drove from San Francisco to L.A. in '85 to take my board exams, and as I got near L.A. the smell of smog/cars was notable.

[mountaineer]

The smog was bad in the early-mid 60s, when my family lived in the San Fernando Valley and before the period Odumbo references. Obama tries to imply Reagan and thus the Republicans are to blame for air pollution. Apparently, he's unfamiliar with what industrial areas of the northeast, e.g., the Upper Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh, looked like in the 1950s: pitch black skies at high noon.

[andy58-in-nh]

The smog problem has improved in America because of technological advances made possible by capitalism and the profit motive, as demanded by government fiat, but made economically feasible by the consumers who actually desired cleaner air and water.  The problem persists and has worsened in China due to the dominating influence of state socialism, which ignores the economic and personal interests of the people in favor of government power and control.

[rangerrebew]

. Apparently, he's unfamiliar with what industrial areas of the northeast, e.g., the Upper Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh, looked like in the 1950s: pitch black skies at high noon.

I guess there wasn't a paper where he could read about it.

[mountaineer]

I guess there wasn't a paper where he could read about it.

No MSNBC back then to tell him everything he needed to know.  ^-^

[Scottftlc]

When Washington was president, the environment in California was pristine, but Washington owned slaves.

[aligncare]

When Washington was president, the environment in California was pristine, but Washington owned slaves.

  

[truth_seeker]

The smog problem has improved in America because of technological advances made possible by capitalism and the profit motive, as demanded by government fiat, but made economically feasible by the consumers who actually desired cleaner air and water.  The problem persists and has worsened in China due to the dominating influence of state socialism, which ignores the economic and personal interests of the people in favor of government power and control.

A few years ago the then head of Ford, said the pollution today from cars is a tiny fraction, of what it once was.

Facts are fun, so.....

A great deal of improvement took place during Reagan's two terms as Governor, 1967-1975

Key Events in the History of Air Quality in California

http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/brochure/history.htm

History of Air Pollution Control in Southern California

http://www.aqmd.gov/home/library/public-information/publications/history-of-air-pollution-control

LA's Smoggy Past in Photos

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/los-angeles-smoggy-past-photos-31321.html

[flowers]

when I went running,

that is as far as I was able to read. After all we do see those photo-ops of him going for a run all the time. 

[ABX]

It hasn't exactly gotten better.



The thing is, a major factor in LA's smog is geography. The way it is situated at the foot of the mountains, in almost a basin with ocean breezes pushing towards land, the smog collects and stays. In most places it would have blown away but those factors are keeping it in a bowl.

[Fishrrman]

mountaineer wrote above:
"Apparently, he's unfamiliar with what industrial areas of the northeast, e.g., the Upper Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh, looked like in the 1950s: pitch black skies at high noon."

And back in the 1950's, that was the hallmark of prosperity.

Same for places like Altoona, PA (where the Pennsylvania Railroad's shops were). Folks had to wash the coal smoke from their walls once a year, at the least.

But today's clear skies often come with a price, as well:
(written by Si Kahn, and performed by one of the great bands of acoustic music, The Red Clay Ramblers):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE0s7vhtmig

[katzenjammer]

mountaineer wrote above:
"Apparently, he's unfamiliar with what industrial areas of the northeast, e.g., the Upper Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh, looked like in the 1950s: pitch black skies at high noon."

And back in the 1950's, that was the hallmark of prosperity.

Same for places like Altoona, PA (where the Pennsylvania Railroad's shops were). Folks had to wash the coal smoke from their walls once a year, at the least.

But today's clear skies often come with a price, as well:
(written by Si Kahn, and performed by one of the great bands of acoustic music, The Red Clay Ramblers):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE0s7vhtmig

Poignant, Fishrr, thanks for posting.
(I trust that your recovery has been proceeding apace!)