Hot on the heels of Sen. McCain’s Obama=Paris Hilton ad and news that 86% of Americans could be overweight by 2030, WSJ‘s Amy Chozick speculates that perhaps beanpole Barack isn’t fat enough to win the US Presidency.
And if it wasn’t embarrassing enough that Slate‘s Timothy Noah sensed “racial subtext” in Chozick’s piece (“Would you want your sister to marry one? Would you want a whole family of skinny people to move in next-door?”), the perceptive Aaron Barnhart at the Kansas City Star notes that the story is nothing new; it actually appeared six months ago as a parody on The Onion.
Here’s to good journalism; check it out here:
As Obese Population Rises, More Candidates Courting The Fat Vote
Next on the agenda is the flap over Obama’s CarTalk. Major congrats go to Time.com for so concisely putting the quote-unquote tire pressure gaffe to rest:
[Barack Obama is] so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled “Barack Obama’s Energy Plan” to Washington reporters.
But who’s really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.
That, as they say, is that. It likely won’t stop Republicans from handing out those tire gauges, but why should it? After all, they spent all that money getting them made up.
I’m thinking about having some John McCain bobblehead tire gauges made up. Any takers?
I love the addendum at the end of the WSJ article where they admit that their quote from the anonymous guy on the Yahoo Message was a response to a discussion initiated by the WSJ themselves. Does this mean that when they decided to write this article, their sole source at the time was the housewife in Corpus Christi, Texas? Kudos, Wall Street Journal!
Also, the average IQ in America is 98, which makes Obama clearly way too smart to be president. Our president should be just like us, not special or above average in any way. I say unless you’re working to lower the bar, you’re an elitist. Continually reducing the mental and physical expectations we place on ourselves ensures that we will at least feel superior to future generations, who will hopefully be too brain dead and lazy to blame us for having bequeathed to them an empire irreparably in decline.