Meanwhile, on the Campaign Trail

From AP:

Obama pokes at McCain over tire - pressure issue: ELKHART, Ind. (AP) -- Barack Obama taunted Republican presidential rival John McCain on Wednesday for first ridiculing him for advising voters to keep tires inflated and then later acknowledging that the practice saves gasoline. ''It will be interesting to watch this debate between John McCain and John McCain,'' Obama said.... Discussing the air-pressure issue during an appearance Tuesday night, McCain said he wasn't opposed to Obama's suggestion. ''And could I mention that Senator Obama a couple of days ago said that we ought to all inflate our tires, and I don't disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it, but I also don't think that that's a way to become energy independent.''

Obama had noted that keeping tires inflated and cars tuned was endorsed by both NASCAR and AAA and should be part of any comprehensive plan to reduce reliance on imported oil. In mocking Obama, McCain told a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.: ''My opponent doesn't want to drill, he doesn't want nuclear power, he wants you to inflate your tires.'' The Republican National Committee widely distributed tire pressure gauges labeled ''Obama energy plan'' and suggested that was the Illinois senator's only idea for reducing oil imports, although both candidates have offered multifaceted energy proposals....

Obama campaigned in Indiana as his campaign released a new television ad that seeks to link McCain to President Bush.... Obama also questioned McCain's claim to being a maverick. While the Arizona senator has broken with his party on many issues in the past, he ''reversed himself on position after position'' to secure his party's nomination, Obama asserted. ''That doesn't meet my definition of a maverick.'' McCain's campaign ''ran an ad saying Washington is broken. No kidding. It took him 26 years to figure it out,'' Obama said.

Comments

[bakho]

Gas mileage improves by 3% with proper tire inflation.
3% here. 3% There. Suddenly you get a 10-20% reduction in oil demand which will cause oil prices to drop significantly. This would give breathing room to make more permanent adjustments to oil demand.

However, Big Oil will lose Big Money and they will fight these efforts with Big Lobbying and Big Advertising every step of the way.

[David Lloyd-Jones]

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I thought Obama's original air-pressure remark very effectively made he point that off-shore drilling is a minor and temporary little policy blip.

It's like all the oil in Alaska adds up to whutt? I dunno. Maybe enough to run all the Hummers for a couple of years. BFD.

[Neal]

Simple math for simple minds (all EIA numbers):

Maximum estimated OIL production from ANWAR: 876,000 barrels/day

Current GASOLINE usage: 9,286,000 barrels/day

3% savings from proper tire inflation: 278,600 barrels/day GASOLINE

Because it takes 2.15 barrels of OIL to produce 1.00 barrel of GASOLINE, the saving of 3% of gasoline means that proper tire inflation will save 599,000 barrels of OIL a day!!

If ANWAR is worth going for with it's tremendous cost and with it's time delay, isn't getting the equivlent of 68% of ANWAR at no cost and immediately a smarter move?

[nathan]

The windfall profits tax on oil does not appeal to me.

Let's look at pharma companies vs. oil companies, using XOM and LLY as examples. Furthermore, let's look at financial statement info for trailing three completed fiscal years (numbers below are averages of three years of data from yahoo). Finally, lets declare this a draft subject to review.

XOM
Avg Net income as % of revenues - 10.1%
Avg Cap Ex as % of revenues - 3.9%
Difference: 6.2%

LLY
Avg Net income as % of revenues - 15.3%
Avg Cap Ex as % of revenues - 7.3%
Difference: 8.0%

Pharma companies may or may not have more excessive profits than oil companies. Other industries may have large profits.

Instead of windfall profits, maybe the national debate should be focused on windfall losses - GM, financial entities, etc --

[Doctor Jay]

My chief worry about Obama was whether he was too "nice" to win. I didn't know whether he could hit back, or get in McCain's face and rattle him.

Even as he disappoints me by moving ever rightward, he's reassuring me on the point: "It took him 26 years to figure that out?" Not only slams McCain for being an insider, a flip flopper, but also for being old. I like it.