It was a stunt destined to last, in media time, for about as long as it takes to check your tire pressure.
When Sen. Barack Obama said in an Aug. 1 campaign appearance that keeping tires properly inflated was one “simple thing” people could do to conserve gas, the Republican National Committee gleefully cranked out tire gauges labeled “Obama’s Energy Plan.”
The RNC saw its opening in Obama’s suggestion that “we could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling” if American drivers just kept their tires properly inflated.
The gauges were handed out during an Obama address on energy in Michigan a few days later, and also mailed to Republican campaign donors with a fundraising pitch.
Sen. John McCain quickly chimed in, suggesting Obama either lacked the “experience to understand the challenge we face or isn’t giving the American people straight talk.”
In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that drivers can improve gas mileage by 3.3% — saving 12 cents per gallon — by keeping tires properly inflated. And the U.S. Energy Administration projects that new oil drilling would take seven to 10 years to produce new oil.
One week after Obama’s initial remarks, the pressure point seemed to deflate as McCain reportedly told an Ohio audience, “I think we ought to inflate our tires. I’m all for it.”
Nearly two weeks after the flap started, RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson reported the committee had staged 30 tire gauge events in 20 states. And whether or not anyone was still taking the subject seriously, she said it was planning to keep the tire gauges coming.
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