Bush's tough talk forgets fine print

President Bush's was talking tough on cutting the US gasoline consumption last night, but The Washington Post, is reporting the real story today. In last night's annual State of the Union address, Bush committed to the "goal of reducing U.S. gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years."

Like any good PR spin, it looks good on the surface, but once you scratch the refined messaging and nuanced language there's a different story. According to US administration officials, the goal is 20 percent below projected annual gasoline usage, not off today's levels. So a cut of 20% all of a sudden becomes a relative cut. According to the US Energy Information Administration 2007 Annual Energy Outlook, petroleum usage will continue to rise, with some slight levelling off due to an expected rise in ethanol usage over the next 23 years.