Power Line: Obama Doubles Down

Two points: First, even if Obama's "3 to 4 percent" claim about tire inflation were true, it would not validate his original assertion that proper inflation would equal "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling." That assertion was, and remains, false.

Second, Obama's claim that "every expert" says that tire inflation would "reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent" is ridiculous. No expert says any such thing. What experts do say is that properly inflated tires can improve gas mileage by approximately 3 percent compared to grossly underinflated tires. But since most people know this and inflate their tires, the actual potential savings is some much smaller amount. Moreover, the U.S. consumes around 20.7 million barrels of petroleum per day. Only about 9.3 million barrels per day are used in motor vehicles. So a 3 percent improvement in automobile mileage would correspond, at best, to a 1.3 percent reduction in total oil consumption.

Barack Obama's ignorance on the subject of energy is remarkable.