Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) (UPI Photos/Eduardo Sverdlin) Illinois affiliate WPSD-TV reports. Illinois Senator Barack Obama warned citizens at his 50th Town Hall meeting about gas guzzling vehicles.

According to reports, the standing room only audience at the Metropolis Community Center heard the popular senator Obama speak on everything from politics to global warming.

According to Obama, part of the blame for the world's higher temperatures rests on gas guzzling vehicles. Obama says consumers can make the difference by switching to hybrid cars.

Obama said, "It would save more energy, do more for the environment and create better world security than all the drilling we could do in Alaska."

According to the reporter at local News Channel 6: "After the meeting Obama left in a GMC Envoy after admitting to favoring SUV's himself."

http://people.monstersandcritics.com/article_1190796.php/Senator_Barack_Obama_admonishes_Gas_Guzzlers_drive s_off_in_SUV

This is in part why the USA is having a hard time getting gas mileage up in the fleet and selling cleaner cars. Leaders who do not "lead by example" themselves.

 

That works for me. Would you prefer advocating GW's energy policy?

Bob Wilson

 

Here is GW's energy policy broken down piece by piece.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea.../20060425.html

Let me know which parts are not sensible.

 

Why read the eyewash when we have their actions, their deeds that tell the tale.

In 2001, GW ended the "High Mileage Vehicle" program to fund the hydrogen vehicle fraud. The program he killed had on tap getting hybrid and high-fuel efficiency vehicles from every US manufacturer and GW killed it for the hydrogen fraud 'eyewash.' That alone put our manufacturers behind by at least 4-6 years. Along with ignoring the August 2001 briefing on bin Laden, these remain two low points from GW's first year that have yet to be corrected.

Then there the still secret Cheny "Energy Task Force" and Cheny's notable quote about "conservation" not being part of their plan. What did he call it, "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy" and dismissed it out of hand. Add to that:

1) no call for CAFE standards increase
2) soon to expire tax credits on hybrids while trying to kill estate tax

Bob Wilson

ps. The obvious answer to Cheny is "Abstinence may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive reproductive and AIDS policy."

 

Here's what GW said about the hybrids and the hybrid tax credit:

"Second part of a good plan is -- to confront high gasoline prices is to promote greater fuel efficiency. And the easiest way to promote fuel efficiency is to encourage drivers to purchase highly efficient hybrid or clean diesel vehicles, which, by the way, can run on alternative energy sources. Hybrid vehicles run on a combination of a traditional engine and an electric battery. The twin sources of power allow hybrid cars and trucks to travel about twice as far on a gallon of fuel as gasoline-only vehicles. When people are driving hybrids, they're conserving energy.

Clean diesel vehicles take advantage of advances in diesel technology to run on 30 percent less fuel than gasoline vehicles do. More than 200,000 hybrid and clean diesel vehicles were sold in the United States last year. It's the highest sales in history. Congress wisely in the energy bill expanded a tax credit for purchase of hybrids and clean diesel vehicles up to as much as up to $3,400 per purchase. That made sense.

If we're trying to conserve energy, if we want to become less dependent on oil, let's provide incentives for consumers to use less energy. The problem is that these tax credits apply to only a limited number of hybrid and clean diesel vehicles for each manufacturer. If the automakers sell more than their limit, new purchasers are not eligible for the full tax credit. And so here's an idea that can get more of these vehicles on the road, and that is to have Congress make all hybrid and clean diesel vehicles sold this year eligible for federal tax credits. We want to encourage people to make wise choices when it comes to the automobiles they drive."

So he is not wanting to end the tax credit - he wants Congress to extend it to ALL hybrids and clean diesels.

As far as the "high mileage vehicle program" I will look into that further. There is a always a reason behind killing programs, and it's usually a sound one.

 

It was called the "partnership for a new generation of vehicles" program, and it was not killed by Bush but by congress.

It also did not mandate that these 80 MPG cars be marketed to the public. So, taxpayers were paying for a program to produce 80 mpg cars which WE COULD NOT BUY.

In fact, automakers will have fulfilled their obligations under PNGV with a single prototype production vehicle nearly 10 years after the program began.

More info here:

http://greenscissors.org/energy/pngv.htm

Another column which displays the problems with the program:

http://www.commondreams.org/views/061900-104.htm

 

Let's face another reality:

It's difficult if not impossible for government to force the automakers to do ANYTHING. The automaker lobby and the Big Oil lobby is just too strong.

Giving the PEOPLE the financial incentive to buy high mileage and clean cars is a good tack to take.

Toyota and Honda did not need large US Government subsidies to come up with clean, high mileage cars.

P.S. And Dick Cheney is an Oil Man. You get what you get with him.

 

Yet the Democrat was criticized for saying anything about energy policy. Apply the same standards to both parties and we'll have something to discuss that doesn't spiral into the cr*pper.

So shall we list GW Bush's photo, Dick Cheny, the cabinet and the secret service team and add the caption,
"Don't drive fuel efficienct vehicles!"

Look, this thread started with a blatant political attack, a distraction from our ordinary hybrid electric discussions. Heck, we might as well invite 'PrivateObvious' back and open the scope to religion and sex too. But that is ultimately futile.

So without much addue, I'll hit the triangle and ask the moderators to look at freezing or better yet, expunging this thread. It has only one way to go.

Bob Wilson

 

Um, not only is Dick Cheney an Oil Man. So is Bush. He owned part of an oil company once and worked in that industry for a long time.

Second point: saying government can't do anything because the lobbyists are too strong is just silly. Lobbyists only have strength to the extent they can get the officials in government to agree with them. If Congress actually wanted to force the automakers to do something, then guess what? The lobbyists couldn't stop them. Lobbyists could speak against them, stop supporting them, campaign against them to their little hearts' content. But it's the Congressmen who get to vote on the legislation.

You know who could stop them? Bush. He actually has a veto (not that he uses it unless he's trying to put a stop to advances in medical research, but maybe we shouldn't go there) and has said in the past that he would not support legislation to increase CAFE standards. There's an implicit threat of a veto in that kind of statement.

Sure, really recently he's changed his tune, but in the past, he's discouraged energy conservation in any legislation as much as he could, especially CAFE increases. And I'm not convinced by his recent about-face. He's asked Congress to give him authority to change fuel efficiency standards for certain classes of vehicles and says it's necessary to improve FE- but he already has that authority for other classes and HE'S NEVER USED IT. So it starts to look like another power grab, rather than actual interest in making FE a priority.

To respond to the first post- I've always liked Barack Obama and been proud of him as my Senator. I campaigned for him. I liked him before the Convention speech that made him famous, supported him before he won the primary that brought him to state-wide prominence. In all that time, I've never thought of him as a hypocrite until now. The SUV thing- I admit, it bothers me. I know and love people who drive SUVs, and it isn't actually a character flaw, but good grief. If you're going to give a speech like that, it's almost insulting to arrive in an SUV. I'm not saying he isn't sincere in his policy position, but leadership isn't always about sincerity- it's about perception and appearances, too.

 

This was not a political attack on anyone in particular - Senator Obama was just the one in the story, and I saw it and thought the last sentence was worthy of discussion.

My point was that if you are going to "walk the walk" then you should "talk the talk." Senator Obama should know there are multiple hybrid options if he insists on driving an SUV, which is his perfect right as a US citizen.

If that had been any other congressperson in the story, I still would have posted it. It was just silly to make that speech and then that statement at the end.

PS. And this IS the part of GH in which "Politics" is an approved subject. We are all mature enough to have reasonable discussions without personal attacks on each other, are we not?