In one of the sillier and least productive political stunts in this season of props, hi-jinks and distractions, ABC’s Rick Klein notes that the GOP will be handing out tire gauges to members of the press during Barack Obama’s visit to Michigan. For serious proponents of energy solutions, the humor of this may rightly escape you.
Look for a tire gauge at a political event (or cable outlet) near you on Monday. Obama’s comment last week, about how proper tire inflation could save more gas than drilling could produce, is making for some fun prop work.
Michigan Republicans will be passing out tire gauges at Obama’s event in Michigan. And the RNC is distributing tire gauges to reporters on Monday — engraved “Obama’s Energy Plan,” a party official tell The Note.
This is intended as a “birthday present” to Obama, as he turns 47 on the road today. By this point, all of us who follow the news know of Obama’s comments about how Americans could eliminate the need for additional domestic oil production “by just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups.”
On the one hand, it was a foolish way to frame his message. We have discussed energy policy here at great length, and if anything is clear it is the fact that a final solution to our energy woes will encompass a full range of efforts – new, renewable forms of alternative energy being developed alongside robust enhancements to our own domestic production capabilities. But one aspect of the solution which too often receives short shrift is conservation – a sin of which I am also guilty on far too many occasions.
As I have mentioned repeatedly, George Will made one of his most trenchant observations on American society recently when he noted that we, as a nation, have a remarkably low threshold for pain and nearly zero tolerance for the concept of sacrifice. However, we are in the middle of an energy crisis. We refer to it as such constantly and it has become one of the pivotal issues of the election. And yet the idea of asking Americans to make sacrifices in an effort to drastically reduce our energy consumption is roughly as popular on the campaign trail as the proverbial turd in the punchbowl.
In past, darker times, Americans grew victory gardens, did without meat in their meals, melted down pots and pans for the war effort and tolerated fuel rationing. They were not regulated or legislated into such action – they were inspired and led to it by their governmental leaders who showed them the value of sacrifice in the face of a national crisis. Yet today, with a new crisis looming, when a candidate for office so much as suggests that we could consume a bit less energy by the simple act of monitoring our tire pressure (an action hardly amounting to any real “sacrifice”) he is not only ignored, but made a subject of derision for broaching the subject.
If you want to attack Obama on a personal level about energy, talk to him about his new campaign plane. Both he and McCain could surely set an example by using less grandiose and more fuel efficient transportation. Leading by example and displaying the courage to call upon Americans to make serious reductions in energy consumption would go much further in impressing us than snide rim-shots and hectoring anyone who talks about cutting usage. These shameless, schoolyard bullying tactics send exactly the wrong message while ignoring one (admittedly small) element of the real solutions to our national energy crisis. The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for this sort of destructive political sideshow.