Energy Plans: Barack Obama, Paris Hilton And Billy Madison
August 29, 2008
When I first saw the McCain campaign ad that showed footage of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Barack Obama and made the point that celebrity status and popularity do not mean someone is prepared to lead the nation, I thought it made a valid point, but was perhaps a little unsporting. I admit that Obama is unprepared to lead the United States. But on the other hand, Obama didn’t rise to fame because of paparazzi pictures of him out on the town drinking without underwear. However, it turns out I was wrong. The ad was actually unfair to Paris Hilton.
Despite her frivolous reputation, it turns out that Paris Hilton may be better prepared to lead the nation than Obama. For example, her energy plan, recently released in an online video response to the McCain ad actually made more sense than Obama’s plan and he has more than 300 advisors and experts helping him. Paris Hilton began her energy plan with drilling for more oil in the United States.
In contrast, Barack Obama argued against permitting any additional domestic drilling and said that instead we could save just as much oil by simply inflating our tires and getting a tune-up. Here are his own words. “There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy,” Obama said. “Making sure your tires are properly inflated – simple thing. But we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling – if everybody was just inflating their tires. And getting regular tune-ups. You'd actually save just as much!” That is completely false.
?Properly inflated tires can improve mileage by as much as 3%. There is simply no way that a 3% jump in mileage will eliminate the need for more domestic oil. In the United States, we use 20 million barrels of oil each day, 12 million of which we import. There are hundreds of billions of barrels of oil available domestically, if we simply bother to drill for it. But Barack Obama – the man who would be president – thinks we can replace billions of barrels of oil by inflating our tires. That doesn’t pass the straight-face test!
Far too much of what Obama has said on energy is silly and frivolous. In response to high prices at the pump, he originally proposed a windfall profits tax – which would only further increase prices. When polling showed that his new tax plan was not popular with voters, he tweaked his message saying he would give American families a $1,000 energy credit and pay for it by increasing taxes on oil companies. But Obama doesn’t tell you his new tax on energy companies will simply be passed on to consumers at the pump. Simply put, you will pay for the tax credit that Obama so generously promises to give you. You are no better off, but Obama claims credit for caring.
Obama says drilling for hundreds of billions of barrels of domestic oil is a waste of time and would do nothing to solve our long term energy woes. Yet, he recently proposed releasing oil from the strategic oil reserve – a short-term supply that would only last several weeks.
Many of Obama’s ramblings on energy are reminiscent of the movie Billy Madison where the main character played by Adam Sandler gives an embarrassingly stupid answer to a question in a school game show. The school principal who is moderating the “game show” responds, “Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
When it comes to energy, a foundation of our economy, much of what Barack Obama has said is “insanely idiotic.” He may look and sound good saying it, but if you peel away the appearances, so much of his ramblings are reminiscent of Billy Madison. The nation’s energy IQ is now lower for having listened to Obama talk about energy. If the Democrats wanted a celebrity candidate, it appears they may have made a big mistake. They should have nominated a celebrity who could say something reasonably intelligent about energy – Paris Hilton, for example.
