WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department apparently missed the August memo and is now decidedly off-message. Back in late July, Sen. Barack Obama said “making sure your tires are properly inflated” could conserve gasoline.
Sen. John McCain’s aides cleverly jumped all over that, mocking it with tire gauges they handed out that read: “Obama’s Energy Plan.”
Obama’s folks lamely responded that GOP Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Calif., a liberal suspect anyway, and Charlie Crist, Fla., also espouse that effort, but the McCain ploy worked, damage was done. And we moved on.
But last week President Bush’s Commerce Department sent around this e-mail:
“From: Broadcast, DOC (mailto:broadcast@doc.gov) Sent: Thu 10/2/2008 6:37 AM Subject: Use Energy Wisely, Be Tire Smart, Make Every Mile to the Gallon Count U.S. drivers consume millions of barrels of petroleum to fuel their more than 250 million vehicles. We can reduce petroleum use by improving fuel economy in U.S. automobiles and trucks. Reducing petroleum use can also save drivers money at the fuel pump and limit emissions. One way to reduce petroleum use is to properly inflate vehicle tires.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers the following statistics on tire inflation:
“A tire can lose 50% of its inflation pressure and not appear to be flat.
“Inflation pressure in a tire goes up or down 1-2 pounds for every 10 degrees of temperature change.
“27% of passenger cars in the United States have at least one significantly under-inflated tire.
“25% of automobile owners do not know where to find the recommended tire pressure for their vehicle.”
Commerce employees were invited to visit a booth that will be set up by the department’s Energy, Safety and Environment Division on Thursday and “pick up a free tire gauge and speak with experts about how you can get more miles to the gallon.”
The gauges probably won’t say “Obama’s Energy Plan.”
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