Obama’s “Tire-Pressure” Embarrassment - - Who’s Ignorant Now?
About the Author: I am an ex-urbanite who escaped the city life and has lived for the past 27 years in a rural, mountainous area of Virginia that in colonial and early-American times was part of the "Backcountry." Politics: Democrat by tradition, but moderate-to-conservative views on most issues; I fit the description of "traditionalist." Please visit my Web site, Backcountry Notes, at http://www.backcountrynotes.com/ Read more from this authorSo Barack Obama came up with a brilliant plan to cut back on petroleum consumption and eliminate the need for offshore drilling: let’s all go get our tires properly inflated, and we’ll save 3 to 4 per cent of national motor fuel consumption annually. Naturally, the McCain folks had a field day with this one, and cranked off an issue of “Obama Energy Plan” tire-pressure gauges. But because he has a narcissistic personality, Obama cannot tolerate such taunting, so he retaliated with his now-trademark “cocky ignorance.”
On August 5, Obama complained that the Republican “Obama Energy Plan” tire gauge gag was “ignorant.” As reported by Reuters, after claiming that his opponents were “lying about what my energy plan is,” as if the tire-gauge thing represented actual policy rather than a humorous campaign ploy, Obama stated, “they are making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by three to four percent . . . . It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.”
No, Barack; we take pride in knowing some simple math.
I published a critical piece on August 7, Obama’s “Tire-Pressure” Canard - - Why It’s Disingenuous. One of the commenters cited Business Week for the estimate that “The chances of having low tire pressure is 33.3% or 1 in 3 cars on the road.” Great! Now for the math: 3 per cent (the improvement) times .3333 (the percentage of cars needing improvement) = 1 per cent, at best. Obama’s claim is overstated by at least 200%.
On August 8, Rich Lowry published “The Audacity of Haughty” in the National Review Online, and made the following points:
Only an estimated 27 percent of cars have underinflated tires, and having properly inflated tires saves at most only 3 percent on gas consumption, so the number gets quite small. Obama’s estimate of an overall savings of 3 percent to 4 percent on gas consumption is wildly optimistic.
It seemed to me that if Obama has “every expert” to back up his claim, he ought to be able to produce a couple of them. Or even one. So I e-mailed the Obama camp with this respectful request:
As reported by Reuters, after claiming that his opponents were “lying about what my energy plan is,” Senator Obama stated, “they are making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by three to four percent.” Assuming that this report is correct, I would like to know who the experts are who say that.
Thank you for your attention to this inquiry.
As a backup, I also e-mailed the Department of Energy’s information people, who sent me a link to the same site I had included in my article the day before. I’m still waiting for a reply from the Obama folks (other than the form letter directing me to the fund-raising page).
I have a suspicion that there will be icicles growing from the hubs of Hades before I get anything more than a form response from the Obama campaign.
On the one hand, this may seem like a small matter. On the other, it illustrates why it can be a problem, if not dangerous, to have a seriously narcissistic person in the White House. Barack Obama simply cannot take criticism; it wounds his ego, no matter how justified it is, and he strikes back like a pouty child. Consider, for a moment, how much criticism George W. Bush has taken in the past several years. Try to imagine a man who can’t take a tire-pressure-gauge gag being exposed to the same kind of pressure.
It’s not a pretty picture.
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The low chance of having underinflated tires for a long period - another relevant factor perhaps - will significantly reduce the percentage from 1% to an even lower one.
Cars with underinflated tires are probably driven at a lower speed and cause less pollution than other cars. Another factor.
Glibame is a dolt. Of course it’s wise top have the tires properly inflated, and probably about 70% cars have it so. This also does better the gas consumption - slightly.
Yet the issue is not SAVING OIL. The issue is getting out of the international oil racket and dependency - and tires pressures won’t do it.
Drill. Drill. Drill - start in Marin county, California.
When you think about it the tire gauge really is a part of Obama’s energy policy. He was telling people if we keep our tires properly inflated it would equal the amount of oil that we would get from drilling, he does not want to drill, so I am assuming the tire inflation is to replace the drilling. Right?
Drilling is for more energy…inflating tires to save energy….what do you think will work?
We need more fuel plus we do need to conserve when we can but I don’t think airing up our tires will make that much of a difference and it sure won’t give us more fuel.
The independent energy analysts over at the EIR say that all the offshore drilling in the Us will only give us 236,000 barrels of oil a day. This is less than inflating your tires and performing regular tune-ups. McCain says that the Us can drill our way to energy independence, but he knows this is not true. His followers aren’t ready to admit the truth: they are going to have to learn to drive less, probably sell their SUVs and learn to conserve. So rather than tell them that, he tells them what they want to hear. Obama has the guts to tell America the truth. The era of cheap oil is over.
cars use less then 1/2 the oil in the us we use plastic, airplanes, shops, heating
The problem with Obama’s plan is its based on human behavior and what would happen “if everyone” complied. Does that mean his “plan” to reduce the deficit would be based on “if everyone were to just stop using govt services”? Of coarse we’d use less gas “if” we proprly inflated our tires, all the time. But that’s like saying we wouldn’t need more oil if we drove 10% less - why not go that route? Also, if Obama supports this type of approach, shouldn’t he be against corn based biofuels which when mixed with traditional fossil fuels at 10% levels (current flex fuel mandate), give cars about 10% less mileage? It would be nice if the media actually could think logically and challenge him on such ridiculous logic.
endure - actully 70% of the US oil consumption is in gas consumptions by passenger cars, commercial vehicles, airplanes, and public transportation. So transportation is by far the biggest part, which makes these wild claims about wind and solar being able to displace oil in 10 years even more ludicrous.
Instead of more drilling, turn the oil tankers around. Stop selling American oil to Japan and start selling it to Americans. That would bring more oil to the US. Stop be fooled by the greedy oil company executives. You continue to vote and support policies that are against your own best interests. Open your minds and stop being lemmings.
Cats: How nice of you to stop by and patronize us!
I’d attempt to apprise you of the error of your ways, but I just don’t have that kind of time.
Not relevant to the discussion, but can “American Sentinel” please change his display picture from something other than his face? It’s currently coming up on Wordpress’s “Hot Posts”, and everytime I go to change my blog I keep thinking I’m looking at the guy who’ll one day rape my children.
No offence.
Obama takes himself wayyyyyyyyy to seriously. It is a savior up on a pedestal kinda thing…
The bigger they think they are. The harder they fall.
God willing.
you make a good point, Obama is probably a bit narcissistic. However, you are defending a man who repeatedly has mentioned that off-shore drilling will provide Americans with a solution and reduce prices at the pump. He maintains this even though just about every single scientist has said it will take atleast 10 years for there to be even a significant drop in fuel prices from the off-shore drilling.
and McCain is assuming that demand will decline over the next 10 years? yea right. maybe there is a bit of demand destruction in America, but this does not mean it will happen at a global level.
Only a pinhead could take Sen. Obama’s harmless suggestion and present it as his “energy plan.”
From Popular Mechanics:
When Obama says that Republicans’ attacks on his tire pressure suggestion are ignorant, it’s because they are, actually, being willfully ignorant of the fact that it would save a remarkable amount of gasoline if everyone did properly inflate their tires. To argue that this constitutes “Obama’s Energy Plan” is both disingenuous and ignorant.
Number one, that doesn’t come close to matching Obama’s figures. Number two, it is disingenuous to believe that Americans will pay attention to their tire pressure. We already went through a period during which we had a series of SUV rollovers and deaths related to tire pressure, and that changed nothing. If people won’t inflate their tires to stay alive, do you think that they’ll inflate them to save 1% on gas?
Meanwhile, drilling in ANWR would create 7.5% of our oil needs for 20 years.
Dom Passantino: You’ve come to the wrong place; no one here provides therapy for non-political hallucinations and delusions.
No offense.
Carson:
“Only a pinhead could take Sen. Obama’s harmless suggestion and present it as his ‘energy plan.’”
Only a narcissistic bonehead would take Sen. McCain’s humorous tire-gauge ploy so seriously that he would accuse those whose math skills are obviously superior to his of “ignorance.”
Ball’s in your court. Impress us all with your wit and intellect.
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[...] Obama’s “Tire-Pressure” Embarrassment - - Who’s Ignorant Now? [...]
“… Sen. McCain’s humorous tire-gauge ploy so seriously …”
As with most things, including foreign policy, Senator McCain should leave humor to the professionals.
Carson: Impressive.
Keep the day job.
I tested the theroy of low tire pressure on a 1996 GMC Van. I can’t measure the difference in gas over a full tank it is so small. The real question though is getting back to the claim Obama is making about “every expert”. He has used that one on various claims like every expert says it won’t make a difference in the price of oil claim.
Go ahead, make an Obama “every expert” claim list, I too wish he would name just one expert he is getting his information from.
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