Obama Cabinet official: Americans are children …

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - The last we heard from Steven Chu, Barack Obama’s Secretary of Energy, someone had to explain to him that oil policy fell within his “domain.” Now that Chu has apparently mastered what exactly energy means, he now wants to act as a parent to recalcitrant Americans who stubbornly insist on making their own choices in life. The Wall Street Journal reports on Chu’s attitude towards the role of government, and especially his condescending attitude towards the governed:

When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.

Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

“The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.” (In that case, the Energy Department has a few renegade teens of its own.)