A few weeks ago, before Barack Obama came down from the heavens to enlighten us peasants about the wonders of tire inflation, my husband and I bought a new car. Well . . . let’s just say that it is "new" to us. It’s actually a 2004 model but it has low miles, was an amazing deal, and is a top-of-the-line Eddie Bauer edition Ford Expedition. More important (from my point of view, of course) is that it’s a beautiful shade of RED. I know everyone is probably shocked to learn that I drive a great-big dirty SUV and I feel no particular compulsion to defend myself on moral grounds. But with gas at close to $4 a gallon, I will defend myself on intellectual and economic grounds, by saying that we need the big engine to pull our travel trailer and, beyond that, I very rarely drive more than 10 miles a day.
Now, we were used to the gas-guzzling ways of this particular kind of vehicle (having traded in a 1997 model in order to buy this one) but our ’97 model, though thirsty, had a smaller 4.6 engine and so it was a little less demanding on our wallet. After about a week’s worth of driving, we discovered that the new car was only getting around 10-11 miles to the gallon. So guess what my genius husband did? He added more air to the tires! Imagine that! He didn’t even need a friendly Democrat to give him instructions . . . he came up with that idea all by himself!
But Barack Obama is still angry (or should I say showing himself to be thin-skinned) over the antics of some Republicans who are showing up at his rallies with tire-gauges imprinted with the slogan, "Obama’s Energy Plan." Obama complains that the attack is thick-headed and out-of-touch first, because it is not a comprehensive understanding of his total plan (as so many of the Obama attack slogans have been cerebral and fair in response to McCain) and second, because inflating your tires is actually a good idea.
“It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant. They think it’s funny that they’re making fun of something that is actually true.”Talk about thick-headed! Perhaps they don’t teach humor at Harvard or, more likely, they do teach their graduates to engage in a form of "noblesse oblige" and condescension that, after awhile, they can’t even recognize in themselves. Memo to Barack: No one is laughing at the idea of properly inflating your tires . . . we’re laughing at the idea that you think you’ve stumbled upon some hot tip there. Inflate your tires to the proper levels? Are you kidding me?! The fact that you apparently think this is some great revelation tells us more about you (and what you think about us) than almost anything you’ve ever said. Next we’ll all be learning that brushing your teeth prevents tooth decay.
Julie-
Nice post. It is funny that a lot of us already check the air pressure in our tires regularly. As you said, I didn't need a President to tell me that. I guess I'm about as smart as your husband, because I thought of it all by myself as well! We too are in an interesting dilemna with cars, we have two Expeditions - a 1999 and a 2004. I drove a car for a few years before deciding I was too tall for one, and could never get comfortable in it. Now, my wife and I have 4 kids (queue: "breeders" comments). We simply don't fit into anything that doesn't hold at least 6 people. We could probably get by with a mini-van, but we also have a camping trailer that we like to pull. Even with a mini-van, we still wouldn't get that much better gas mileage - maybe 30-40%. We only drove a combined 14,000 miles between both of our vehicles last year...
I recently saw something on PMPG (People Miles Per Gallon). I'm getting 96 PMPG with my expedition - we usually have 6 people, and the vehicle gets 16 MPG, so we are getting 96 people mpg!
My wife recently took my oldest son to see Wall-E - in the previews, there were gas savings tips. One of them is that a clean and waxed car is 7% more fuel efficient. Although I find this hard to believe, it certainly blows Obama's 3% savings out of the car wash!
At any rate, I have no idea how Obama's assertation that inflating tires could have much of an impact- far too many Americans have already properly inflated tires.
Brushing your teeth will save gas, too.
After all, fewer trips to the dentist mean less driving.... (Cf. Wickard v. Filburn and other liberal interpretations of the commerce clause of the Constitution.)
I suppose a liberal with a sense of humor would reply that brushing teeth to avoid cavities works best with toothpaste and works even better when you take the chaw of tobacco out of yer mouth.
It's not just that the Obamanation stated that we should be inflating tires as a way to increase gas mileage/oil supply, BUT that he said if that were done those energy savings would BE MORE than all the oil we could recover from the Republicans' DRILL HERE/DRILL NOW plan. It was an insane statement because just from OCS & ANWR we could recover about TWO HUNDRED BILLION BARRELS of oil. If we included SHALE OIL, as repubs want to do, then an ADDITIONAL ONE TRILLION BARRELS OF OIL are recoverable. Given that less than one quarter of autos underinflate their tires, and the increase in gas mileage would only be 3 percent for those drivers, the savings per day in gasoline would not exceed 220,000 Barrels of Oil per day.
So, ONE TRILLION TWO HUNDRED BILLION BARRELS of recoverable oil on the Republican side, vs 220,000 Barrels of Oil Per day (90 million gallons of gasoline/day) on the Obamanation side. Who is the ignoramus? Certainly the ONE who believes that an additional 220,000 Barrels of Oil per day is MORE than ONE TRILLION TWO HUNDRED BILLION BARRELS of recoverable oil.
BTW for you democrats who like the Obamanation slept through your math and economics courses cause you were planning to run for President, please take remedial math and economics, cause you never know when you'll need it.
And get out those tire guages.Cause the dem energy policy is get a small car and wait for the wind.
Ken-
I walk to my dentist, and my eye doctor!
How dare you refer to OBAMA as "thin-skinned"? Don't you realize that is a code word for black? I now see clearly that this whole blog entry was nothing but a racist rant (cleverly concealed, naturally) the goal of which is to keep a black man out of the White House. You should be ashamed.
Julie
You really should have looked at buying something with a diesel engine. We pull 4-horse living quarters trailer to just about every rodeo or roping in Central California. We have a 1991 Ford F-250 one ton 4-wheel drive truck and a 2005 F-350 one ton 4-door 4-wheel drive dually - both diesels - the F250 has 175,000 miles on it and it is just getting broke in and the 2005 has about 26,000 miles on it - Diesels may cost more up front - about $6,000 and more than gas engine, and yes diesel fuel is more expensive, but we got about 13 miles per gallon pulling a 4-horse living quarters trailer loaded from Central California to Gallup New Mexico for the High School Rodeo National Finals. Also, diesels outlast gas engines any day so in the long run you pay less and keep the diesel vehicle much much longer than the gas vehicle...
I think this is one of those things that is only going to get the far right 5%ers worked up - the people who would find a way to scoff and attack Obama if he helped his elderly grandmother cross the street.
In any case, Obama never claimed, or even implied, that he "stumbled upon some hot tip," nor did he suggest that "this is some great revelation." This advice is merely a good, practical tip that some people know about and others don't (either because of age or inexperience or never bothering to have considered it), and is worth repeating from time to time.
That's why the right's favorite motorsport organization, NASCAR has previously recommended the same thing, and it's also why McCain wisely opted to hold fire, and even agreed with Obama on this non-issue, which has already been (unsuccessfully) played to death by the right...
Cowgirl . . . I had a diesel truck for two weeks. His name was Dark Horse. He was a fine machine and he did everything I asked of him. But, in the end, it was just bad timing (and lack of a third row seat) and so Dark Horse, despite his many overriding virtues, had to go. My head is with "Hot Pepper" (as my daughter has dubbed the new Expedition) but my heart will always be with Dark Horse. Enjoy your diesel and your real horses. I envy you.