“We need the next president to be an energy efficiency trendsetter starting by reinventing the inaugural parade,” wrote New York Times columnist and Obama-supporter Thomas Friedman just days before the election. “Get rid of the black stretch limos and double-plated armored Chevy Tahoes inching down Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead, let the next president announce that he will use no vehicles on inauguration day that get less than 30 miles per gallon.”
Sorry, Tom, the Green One will be driving in a big Caddy limo.
Confirming rumors floated last summer, the Detroit News reported Tuesday that the Secret Service will be unveiling for Obama’s inauguration trek a brand new fleet of gas-guzzling Cadillac limousines with 5-inch thick armor.
During his campaign, Obama repeatedly scolded the Detroit Three for not “investing in more fuel-efficient technology for their vehicles, (while) spending their time investing in bigger, faster cars.”
Yet Obama has repeatedly shown an appetite for bigger vehicles. He drove a V-8 Chrysler 300C (before the Detroit press disclosed it and he sold it for a hybrid SUV). Then during the campaign he relied on the Secret Service’s Chevy Tahoes and Suburban SUVs.
While Friedman would sacrifice the president’s security for a symbolic, unarmored hybrid parade on Inauguration Day, Obama seems to have decided that preserving his life takes precedence over saving the planet.