The last 18 months of rumor-mongering used to denigrate candidates and persons in general, especially innuendo that is untrue and not attributed to actual witnesses with actual names… all this has generated much fatigue amongst fair-minded people.

But, today there is a new rumor, and one I sincerely hope is true, for it might be good for us all. The whispers are the Obama may appoint ” A Car Czar,”… a smart, insightful person to be in charge of development of different forms of the auto as we have known it, with special attention to highway law, design aspects, safety factors and fuel consumption…. all of which would NOT be business as usual.

Wow!
—Does this mean, President-elect Obama, that we’ll actually have well designed cars that don’t all look like Dove Soap bars in various boring colors?

–Does it mean that people will really not have to use 25% of their disposable income to get to work via same car/fuel used to take kids to school, grocery shop, pick up spouse from work, etc?

—I don’t believe it’s the auto workers who have failed. Not in any way. But the lead dogs need to be changed, transformed or else replaced. Maybe a Car Czar is our chance to zoom ahead.

For instance, with a Car Czar actually watching over…
–would that mean that American car designers will really get down to it after 25 years of squandering opportunity to be hyper-competitive with imported car designers who caught the wind … while the American car designers and auto industry marketers were still thinking Americans were dunces who would pay and pay and pay for add-on options…

while the imports have, year after year, arrived fully loaded with the features USA consumers most need/want/desire, beginning long ago with kiddie auto door locks?

Does this mean that every car manufactured post 2009 will be
a) utterly gas-fuel non-dependent?
b) will come in collapsible and expandable models as families grow and change?
c) that the first car of a family will cost $1, and the second car for a family will cost 30 Grand, and the third car of the same family will cost 5 billion dollars?

d) does this mean the bicycle, with or without waterwings, will be declared roadworthy for the freeways?
e) Does this mean I will be able to fly a baby helicopter over the main arteries in my lifetime?
f) Does this mean an educated and knowledgeable and INDEPENDENT mind will actually be watching and truly make, help, force, things to move forward?

You all no doubt could add to my list, valuable wishes for a Car Czar to fulfill.

I really only have one request from my child-heart… could the new Car Czar see to it that at least one design for a green vehicle for reallys, not just a concept car, be an auto that can peel out, burn rubber, and sound like it has a big V-8 Hemi under the hood and glass pak mufflers that makes thunder while idling… and might maybe, you know, be a useful contend-ah for drag racing, even though I never ever ever ever do that. Anymore. Mostly… Sort of. All the time, only occasionally.

You know what I’m dreaming… the kind of car that is safe and efficient and green, but also looks mach and muscular instead of how most autos look now, spiritless and spitless.

CODA
I know, I know, a lot of people have cars they love, name, take care of better than themselves. But, just saying… like ‘green notebooks’ that most often have defective bindings and cruddy paper that feathers all over the place when ink touches it, let’s have future cars be better than the best of the past, instead of worse than the present.