The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08

Obama was asked by a voter what he personally could do to help reduce the nation’s dependency on foreign oil.

Here’s his response:

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The right was quick to ridicule the remark. Listen to Sean Hannity:

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..& Newt Gingrich:

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…& John McCain:

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The McCain campaign even made up phony tire gauges with Obama’s name on it.

But Hannity & Gingrich (& the rest) are willfully distorting the original context of what Obama said. Obama did not say this was “the solution” that gets us to energy dependency. He was offering advice on what you, the American individual, can do to help the nation.

He was decidedly not saying “all you need to do” is inflate your ties, or “my entire energy policy” is inflating your tires.

He’s not the only one saying this, by the way:

“You can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. Under-inflated tires can lower gas mileage by 0.4 percent for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires. Properly inflated tires are safer and last longer.” - The U.S. Department of Energy (click on the link for plenty more suggestions)

& while we’re quoting the government, here’s what the Energy Information Agency projects will be the impact (& when we can start seeing it) from offshore drilling in the lower 48 states:

So it’s frustrating that it seems that some on the right think it’s more important to use juvenile forms of ridicule rather than recognizing what Obama & the U.S. Government does: we all need to do our part. Filling your tires properly is how you yourself can have an impact on this problem. It’s not the whole solution, and it’s disingenuous for anyone to paint it as such.

It reminds me how far we’ve come since the days we all rallied around a common cause:

FURTHER READING: “The Tire-Gauge Solution: No Joke” in Time Magazine puts it perfectly:

“But who’s really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.”

&

“It might not fit the worldviews of right-wingers who deny the existence of global warming and insist that reducing emissions would destroy our economy, or of left-wing Earth-firsters who insist that maintaining our creature comforts would destroy the world, but there’s a lot of simple things we can do on the demand side before we start rushing to ratchet up supply.

We can use those twisty carbon fluorescent lightbulbs. We can unplug our televisions, computers and phone chargers when we’re not using them. We can seal our windows, install more insulation and adjust our thermostats so that we waste less heat and air-conditioning. We can use more-efficient appliances, build more-efficient homes and drive more-efficient cars, preferably with government assistance. And, yes, we can inflate our tires and tune our engines, as Republican governors Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Charlie Crist of Florida have urged, apparently without consulting the RNC. While we’re at it, we can cut down on idling, which can improve fuel economy another 5%, and cut down on speeding and unnecessary acceleration, which can increase mileage as much as 20%.“

If nothing else convinces you why you should take these steps, think of all the money you’d save.

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