Jay Inslee in The Atlantic
On Budget & Economy:
Leading state in job growth & personal-income growth
Inslee talks about "the other Washington": the experiment in progressive governance that he's led for the past six years that's cut against the conventional wisdom of economics. On his watch, the state has boosted health care, increased access to
early-childhood education and college, raised the minimum wage, expanded paid family leave, invested in infrastructure, and established in-state net neutrality, all while leading the country in job growth, overall personal-income growth, and GDP.
As other states shed residents, people are moving to Washington. It's hard to drive through the parts of Seattle where Amazon has sprouted neighborhoods of coffee shops and artisanal seafood kitchens and argue that the lefty policies Inslee's been
pushing have had the kind of economic downside that their opponents always warn they will.Opponents say, "Market forces, consumer demands, commonsense policies would have done about the same thing that we've had under six years of Jay Inslee."
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Decade-long track record on climate change
Jay Inslee thinks Americans [will pay attention] when it comes to climate change. And that's why he's going to run for president. "When you've been working on something for over a decade, and now seeing people awakening to that, it's just really
gratifying and heartening," the Washington governor recently told me, sitting in his private study on the top floor of the governor's mansion. When it comes to climate change, there now appears to be "an appetite for someone who has credibility and a
long track record and, most importantly, a vision statement. It's changed to show an opening in a Democratic primary, I believe."As the 2018 midterm campaigns came to an end, Inslee read through searing international and federal climate-change
assessments, took a trip to view the wildfire damage in California--and he shifted [in his decision to run for President]. Now "we're laying the groundwork that would make this a feasible thing in the relatively short term," Inslee told me.
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Climate change threatens environment & national security
If there is a new Democratic president come 2021, he or she will get pulled in all sorts of policy directions. Inslee says he has one priority: global warming. It's not theoretical, or a cause just for tree huggers anymore. "Putting off dealing with it
for a year or two or kicking it to some new bipartisan commission won't work," he says. He plans to focus on the threat that climate change poses to the environment and national security--the mega-storms and fires causing millions
in damages, the weather changes that will cause mass migrations, the droughts that will devastate farmers in America and around the world.
Even more so, he wants to talk about the risk to American opportunity. "We have two existential threats right now: one is to our natural systems, and one is to our economic systems," he said.
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Spur green R&D; restrict power plants and emissions
As he did in Washington State, [to deal with climate change] Inslee would propose a mix of government investments and incentives to spur other investment, restrictions on power plants and emissions, and programs to promote R&D and job growth.
An endless number of jobs can be created in the climate arena, Inslee says. It's the way to make a real dent in income inequality and have the Democratic Party bring tangible solutions to communities in rural America that have been left behind.
With his inaction, President Donald Trump--Inslee calls him "the commander in chief of delusion"--is engaged in a "disgusting selling-out of the country," a "crime"
against the aspirational optimism of America.He's put together an email list of 200,000 climate advocates, which could become a beachhead of support around the country [in his presidential run].
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Establish solar-cell; expand use of electric ferries
[Among Democrats running for President], Inslee is the only one who has actually run a government that has made climate-change policy central. He points to the towns in Washington that have become solar-cell farms, among other accomplishments.
There's also his plan to expand the use of electric ferries. "Without having a vision and having a sense of what could be, we would not be launching that effort right now," says the outgoing director of the state
commerce department. "As a country, we're certainly not going to be able to do it if we're hiding from facts from the world around us."Why climate change as a core issue?
This is like gay marriage, he figures: America is at a tipping point. Things are about to change. And voters will be looking for leaders who were already out front on the issue.
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Fighting climate change crucial, and profitable
Inslee will be the only climate-change candidate when he announces his bid. "It's less of a concern," Inslee says of his singular focus on global warming, "than being totally ignored in a presidential race." This isn't just about saving the planet,
but about how much money can be made in moving toward clean energy. "Whatever the situation is now, it's going to be worse two years from now on the peril side, and it's going to be better on the promise side through clean-energy jobs."
Source: The Atlantic, "Risky Bet," on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 1, 2019
On Gun Control:
Arming teachers with guns is ridiculous
To Inslee, a key part of the formula for running against Trump is being ready to take him on directly. During the National Governors Association meeting, Inslee was at the White House with the other governors for a lunch. Every year, a few governors get
up and ask questions, and so the night before the event, Inslee and a few staffers brainstormed how to make the best use of the chance.The governor didn't like any of their suggestions, and ended up improvising a question inspired by his
brother-in-law, a teacher, about the proposal Trump was pushing after the Parkland shooting to arm teachers with guns. Inslee called it ridiculous. He told the president to stop tweeting and start listening. He watched the president's arms cross into
his telltale grumpy self-hug, his hands shoved back behind his armpits, elbows up, lips pursed. ("If he's ever carved on a mountain, it won't be Mount Rushmore, it'll be Mount Petulant," Inslee told me later. "And that's the pose.")
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
Page last updated: Jul 21, 2024