TIREsome Campaign Rhetoric

By now you've heard about Barack Obama's infamous "tire pressure comments." He made the claim that if everyone would keep their tires properly inflated and get tune-ups, we would be able to elminate our reliance on foregin oil and we certainly wouldn't need to drill.

John McCain pounced and started handing out tire guages with the words "Obama Energy Policy" on them. Clever.

But we've got Barack's back on this one. Was he guilty of a little hyperbole? Absolutely. (In a political campaign-- go figure.) Is his point valid? Absolutley.

Accordnig to an analysis in the San Francisco Chronicle that pulls statistics from the federal government's fuel economy Web site, we can increase fuel efficiency by as much as 3.3 percent.

Will that be the ticket to oil self-reliance? I seriously doubt it, but in California, where we are conditioned to do the little things like turning off light switches when you leave the room and taking shorter showers to save water, something so simple as inflating your tires should be a no-brainer.

So, here's hoping Obama's exaggeration doesn't obscure the real point, which is that we can all do our part to rein in gas consumption.

We have to give credit where credit is due though, the tire guage thing was kind of funny, but it has run its course. Time to move on!

Tire gauge pumping up campaign rhetoric [San Francisco Chronicle]