After his skyrocket start, Senator Barack Obama's Presidential campaign has found the going tough. His lackluster performance in the first debate failed to resolve the nagging doubts that he can keep up with the pros on detail. Since then he has, in rapid succession, overstated the deaths of the Kansas tornadoes by nearly ten thousand, left labor leaders shaking their heads at his amateurish speech, and now, misstated fuel economy statistics, according to Paul Mirengoff of Power Line:
Obama stated that "while our fuel standards haven't moved from 27.5 miles per gallon in two decades, both China and Japan have surpassed us, with Japanese cars now getting an average of 45 miles to the gallon." But Toyota, which should know, has responded that "No carmaker gets 45 m.p.g; ours is closer to 30 m.p.g."
Any candidate can make a mistake or two, but the most recent one in particular suggests that Obama may lack the staff support he needs to compete with the Hillary Clinton machine.
Read the whole post at the above link, including hyperlinks to "the Indispensable Jim Geraghty."
Obama's youth and inexperience is beginning to show. Doubts about him help Hillary, of course, but also Edwards - who had figured to be the "anti-Hillary" candidate before Obama emerged as a fad candidate.
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Obama, Primaries
Tags: Democrat, Obama, presidential campaign, primaries
Comments (6)
Obama's youth and inexperie... (Below threshold)1. Posted by anonymous | May 11, 2007 4:49 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Obama's youth and inexperience is beginning to show? What is the age of Obama?I don't know if it's been brought out.
I really didn't think Obama was ready for a run at President of the White House. To date: Sen. McCain maybe - although his age, while not youthful like Obama - might hinder him.
Ex-Senator Fred Thompson, is a good age; but he had a bout of cancer? Sen. Brownback, in good health, a good age, and experienced in a wide variety of areas from politics to teaching to agriculture seems to be at this point the best candidate to lead our nation.
Perhaps Brownback for President with McCain as his running mate?
1. Posted by anonymous | May 11, 2007 4:49 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on May 11, 2007 04:49
2. Posted by COgirl | May 11, 2007 6:41 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Maybe Obama was including bicycle miles in China in the stats he quoted. Maybe he just made up the number.
2. Posted by COgirl | May 11, 2007 6:41 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 11, 2007 18:41
3. Posted by JulieAnna | May 12, 2007 10:44 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Actually, it's Paul Mirengoff and Jim Geraghty of NRO who are mistaken. If you go here:
http://www.autoproject.org.cn/english/new_advance_en/Pew.pdf
Scroll down to pages 15 and look at the table, "Fleet average fuel economy and GHG standards around the world." In the Japan column, for the year 2002, the average is 45.4 mpg. The graph on page 16 reflects the same thing.
This is the report Obama based his statement on and he is, in fact, correct.
3. Posted by JulieAnna | May 12, 2007 10:44 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2007 10:44
4. Posted by Jim Addison | May 13, 2007 12:26 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
No, JulieAnna, it is YOU and the Pew report which are mistaken.
IN FACT the only class of automobiles which will even be required to average over 45 mph by 2010 in Japan is the "less than 1500 lbs" class.
Pew rejiggered the figures, using some formula of their own devise, which is obviously resulting in the error. Anyone except a mathematical illiterate should intuitively sense that the AVERAGE fuel economy of the fleet can't be as high as the most fuel-efficient car model in operation.
HINT TO THE LEFT: when you try to "spin" away, don't use numbers. They can be verified. The ACTUAL average fuel economy in Japan is 31 mpg, and that includes the tiny little deathtraps we wouldn't allow on the highway here.
4. Posted by Jim Addison | May 13, 2007 12:26 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on May 13, 2007 00:26
5. Posted by jpe | May 13, 2007 7:03 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Jim: don't be so stupid. America and Japan use two different standards. If we were to translate Japanese car mpg averages into the American calculation, they'd get 45 mpg.
(they don't factor more efficient highway driving into their calculation. I spent all of 5 minutes finding this information. That tells me that you're either mind-bogglingly stupid or totally unethical. Or both.)
5. Posted by jpe | May 13, 2007 7:03 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 13, 2007 19:03
6. Posted by Jim Addison | May 14, 2007 1:07 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Why is it the leftists think they can defend a lie by merely rephrasing it?
jpe ~ I don't know if you are a liar or just a fool, or perhaps both. I could buy that "different standards" of measuring miles per gallon could account for a difference of as much as 10% in the results. However, the number INVENTED by Pew, and parroted without critical thought by Obama, was 50% higher than the actual number accepted accepted by all competent authorities.
You can rephrase it any way you want to. Obama was wrong. His claim doesn't pass the laugh test.
6. Posted by Jim Addison | May 14, 2007 1:07 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 14, 2007 01:07