| It wasn't too long ago that the McCain campaign tried desperately to mock the Obama suggestion that people would be well served to keep their tires inflated properly in order to get better gas mileage. They went so far as to send out a fundraising email offering a "free" tire gauge in exchange for a donation to the campaign. They asked "[w]ill simply inflating your tires reduce the financial burden of high gas prices on your wallet?"
Turns out, the answer from every corner is yes. To the point that McCain had to back off it entirely and concede that it's probably a good idea to properly maintain one's car.
But as McCain and other Republican leaders continue to push the ridiculous on its face notion that only increased offshore drilling can address the current energy challenges in this country, Automobile Manufacturers and our own Governor Schwarzenegger are lining up to push car maintenance and better driving habits as a simple way to ease the hit at the pump. He was even good enough to put a video together to promote the new EcoDriving campaign. Echoing Obama's statements on the issue, Schwarzenegger says in part, "You can reduce your fuel costs by more than 15%. And I am talking about simple things, like proper tire pressure, avoiding rapid starts and stops, and keeping your engine tuned."
This is admittedly a mixed bag. Better driving habits and car maintenance does have a significant impact on gas mileage, and the more attention this gets, the more likely it is that consumers will receive the message. But it's also incumbent upon auto makers and others to not use this as a cop out on their responsibility to keep working towards more eco-friendly cars. Informing consumers is fantastic, passing the buck to consumers in not. Either way, especially in a car-centric state like California this is a nice step.
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| It also serves as yet another reminder that consistently, nobody agrees with John McCain. He tries to belittle the advantages of better driving habits and gets smacked down by the people who know- AAA and car makers. He tries to run on his foreign policy brilliance and even tried to claim that Obama "has now adopted John McCain's position" on Iraq. Which was almost immediately met by Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki saying McCain's Iraq plan "would cause problems" as he endorsed Obama's plan for withdrawal over 16 months. Which left McCain with the embarrassingly sad response: 16 months is now "a pretty good timetable."
Every time McCain tries to lead on an issue, he's promptly smacked down by the tag team of Obama and reality. If McCain hadn't made such an absurd deal out of proper tire inflation, nobody would have said anything about it and we likely wouldn't have a national push from auto makers advocating better driving habits led by one of McCain's most valuable allies. But here we are, and McCain is left, once again, looking out of touch and unprepared to deal with the world as it is. |
