Obama makes war on math, big families

Published April 7, 2011 4:00am ET



President Obama talks about respecting science. He doesn’t respect it so well when he says things like this:

We have about 2, maybe 3 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves; we use 25 percent of the world’s oil.  So think about it.  Even if we doubled the amount of oil that we produce, we’d still be short by a factor of five.

Obama is conflating two very different ratios here. One represents the amount of oil we use as a share of what the world uses; the other has to do with proven reserves. Obama’s sleight of hand is to use the two interchangeably, and he’s just wrong to do so.

By using faulty math, Obama implies that we produce less than 20 percent of the oil we use. In fact, the number is 49 percent, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Another thing Obama fails to respect is personal choice in automobiles. You would think that someone with two children would appreciate the fact that not everyone can drive a two-door stick shift, but he doesn’t get it. This incredible exchange, between Obama and one of the many big-family victims of liberals’ fuel efficiency rules, demonstrates it:

I know some of these big guys, they’re all still driving their big SUVs.  You know, they got their big monster trucks and everything.  You’re one of them?  Well, now, here’s my point.  If you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting eight miles a gallon — (laughter) — you may have a big family, but it’s probably not that big.  How many you have?  Ten kids, you say?  Ten kids?  (Laughter.)  Well, you definitely need a hybrid van then.  (Laughter.)

The President of the United States, showcasing the ignorance and arrogance of environmentalist central planners.