Obama asks MIT and Nation to Join in "Difficult Fight" in Months Ahead

President Obama's speech, which ended at 1:05 eastern time, was a rallying cry on clean energy innovation, and sounded the opening bell for the fight in the Senate to get the counterpart to the Waxman-Markey climate bill passed.

After talking about the marvelous innovations he had seen on the energy front at MIT--the finest institution in "this part of Cambridge," the Harvard alumni allowed--President Obama declared that "The nation that leads in clean energy innovation will be the nation that leads the world’s economy. And I want the U.S. to be that nation."

Trying to be as inclusive as possible, the President noted that the Pentagon, veterans, and leaders in the business community are looking to protect the environment, our security and the economy by combatting climate change and transforming the energy sector.

Giving a hand to Senators from fossil-fuel dependent states, who will be critical to the passage of any bill, the President envisioned a transition to a "clean energy future" that included "[f]iguring out how we are going to use the fossil fuels that we inevitably are going to be using for the next several decades" as cleanly as possible, and making use of nuclear power, sustainably grown biofuels, as well as "energy harvested from the wind, waves and sun." And the President praised Senator Graham, Kerry, and Bingaman for their work so far on a Senate climate change bill.

Noting the uphill battle ahead, the President warned that "it is important to understand that the closer we get, the harder the opposition will fight," including "people who want to defeat or delay the change that is necessary," and asked the audience to "join us in what is sure to be a difficult fight in the months and years ahead."

Update: A transcript of the speech is now available here, and reactions from the New York Times here, the Washington Post here, the LA Times here, and the Chicago Tribune here.