When Harvard Scholars Attempt To Rescue Americans

Said Chaucer, "The greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people."

Enter Constititutional scholar and Harvard Law Review Editor and graduate, Senator Barack Obama:

"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!"

This is the wise judgment Senator Obama promises to have entering the White House as our President? With oil hovering at $125 per barrel, the Senator believes that Americans "can't drill their way out" of this crisis. Beside the thorny fact that very few cars require tune-ups anymore, what does inflating our tires do for Americans spending $4 per gallon filling up their gas tanks?

At best, its a 3% increase in gasoline efficiency.

According to Ken Sheperd, "Americans drive approximately 2,880 billion miles per year. If we average 24 mpg, we use around 120 billion gallons of gasoline in our vehicles. If, through perfect tire inflation, we improved our collective fuel efficiency by 1.5%, that would be 1.8 billion gallons. A barrel of oil produces around 20 gallons of gasoline, so the total savings available through tire inflation is approximately 90,000,000 barrels of oil annually."

In the same Missouri speech, Senator Obama reversed his drill for oil policy in seeking a compromise for "limited" drilling off of the continental shelf. In addition, the Senator promised each American citizen $1,000 derived from a windfall profit tax on Exxon Mobil record profits.

Inflate our tires solves our problem. Tune-up our cars. Tax Exxon Mobil. Unleash the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for of 90 billion barrels to reduce gas prices.

Apparently, drilling for oil is not a legitimate option. Tracking polls in California and Florida have recently shown a complete reversal. Citizens of these states have willingly stated a desire to see greater drilling in and around their respective states. Even a marginal politician would have common sense enough to grasp the "drill here - drill know - pay less" concept?

It is true that Senator McCain's design to have a "gas tax holiday" was cooky at best.

But is Senator Obama's "Air the Tires" doctrine any better?