Prideful Ignorance
Dramatic background. Obama launched a comprehensive energy plan. He is smart and will work (more than can be said of anything John McCain has said, even when he contradicts himself).
At the end of the speech, a speech in which he proposed raising fuel economy standards, financing the development of low-emission engines, sustainable development of biofuels and the infrastructure to support them, and a national standard for low-carbon fuels, a member of the public asked what individuals could do now. Echoing prominent hippies such as NASCAR, the Federal Department of Energy, and McCain alternatives who also rule in Florida, California, and the automotive industry: Obama proposed to people to verify that their tires were properly inflated and added (correctly) that they could save more gas through this simple resource. We'll get it by expanding ocean drilling. This would have the added benefit of keeping the air clean, rather than endangering the coast, and applying it immediately, not within ten years.
McCain and his allies responded by ignoring the substance of Obama's plan and mocking the idea of examining his tires. Paradise concedes to someone who tells Americans to play with their cars. That's simply not what we do.
Objection to Obama's excellent response to the false garbage thrown at him. It's not "as if these boys are proud to be ignorant." In fact, they are proud of being ignorant. It is an integral part of the anti-American right. Even people who are not ignorant (McCain, their final vice president, Hillary Clinton, Disco Institute, etc.) know that ignorance is the way to success. McCain is playing with this trend brilliantly. The "supposed" Mai that was gripping wisely is promoted as a way to play out of that dynamic. Obama established himself as an expert (making it difficult for McCain to turn the "experiment" into a selling point), and receiving him abroad and with the young, modern and global demographic group Stuff White People Like makes it difficult for him to act like an ignorant clown. This leaves McCain a chance, one decided to work with her.
