Monday, August 4, 2008

Why Obama's losing



Ed Morrissey makes it explicit, for the benefit of lefty bloggers who pretend they don't get what's so stupid about this Obama quote:
We could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You’d actually save just as much.

As Morrissey demonstrates from multiple sources, this is simply untrue, the silliness of the argument goes beyond its falsehood:

  • The additional production from drilling ANWR and offshore would be many times greater than the amount from such improvements in efficiency.
  • Even if conservation -- tire inflation, tuneups, etc. -- could reduce consumption, this doesn't mean that the additional production would be useless. If conservation reduces demand by factor X and additional production could expand supply by the same factor, why would we not choose a potential price savings of 2x from doing both?
  • Checking your tire pressure is a hassle, and tuneups cost money, and thus Obama is demanding we spend our money and time doing these things, rather than simply lift government prohibitions against drilling that would give us cheaper gas without any extra money or effort on our part.
  • There's a class issue and a hypocrisy issue involved. You can best believe that Obama's not checking his tire pressure, and his transportation is provided either by your taxes or by campaign contributors, so the cost of a tune-up doesn't come out of his pocket.
The rich, powerful, successful Harvard Law graduate is telling ordinary Americans how to live their lives, by engaging in expenditures of time and effort that he never has to make himself. Do you lefties think people in Ohio and Pennsylvania are too stupid to understand this?

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