Here’s the Beef: Fuel Efficiency
Most presidential candidates would rather eat their own shoe than confront an interest group with an uncomfortable truth. Not so for Sen. Obama.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois delivered a stern message to Detroit auto companies on Monday, saying they had done little to lessen the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and needed to improve the fuel efficiency of their vehicles.
Sounding at times like a teacher scolding a lazy but promising student, Mr. Obama at the same time proposed incentives to help General Motors, Ford and Chrysler out of a lingering slump that has resulted in dozens of plant closings and the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs this decade.
…Mr. Obama, making his first campaign visit to Michigan, said he wanted to be blunt with Detroit auto companies on their home turf.
…“I’m making this proposal here today because I don’t believe in making proposals in California and giving a different speech in Michigan,” he said. His goal “is not to destroy the industry, but to help bring it into the 21st century,” he said.
The article notes that Sen. Obama’s plan would mandate “a 4 percent a year increase in fuel economy standards beginning in 2009, or the equivalent of about one mile per gallon per year.” The result would be conservation of 2.5 million barrels daily. Sen. Obama also plans to assist automakers in updating their plants and “in dealing with their burden of paying for current and retired workers’ health care expenses.”
He also plans to “Expand the tax breaks for buying hybrids and ultra-efficient vehicles that use biofuels,” according to a Chicago Sun-Times report.
Perhaps most telling in the Times article, though, are the remarks of folks who attended the speech, and who were impressed by Sen. Obama’s substance and the details of his plan:
“I think it took a lot of courage to come to Detroit and lay it on the line,” said Peter Eckstein, a retired labor union economist from Ann Arbor, Mich.
Leonard Mungo, a Detroit lawyer, said he was surprised to hear specific proposals for addressing the industry’s problems. “He’s saying, ‘You got yourselves into this mess, but now this is how we get out,’” Mr. Mungo said.
