Alternative Fuels Can't Help a President Who's Lost His Way

The president, escorted by the chief executives from Detroit's Big Three, arrived 20 minutes late for yesterday's South Lawn event. Eight minutes later, he was on his way back inside.

Bush walked directly toward the cameras when Ford's Alan Mulally caught his arm and gave him a tour of a hydrogen-electric version of the Ford Edge. Bush accepted a power cord from Mulally, plugged the car in with some difficulty -- and ended the tour after about a minute, not having looked under the hood or inside the passenger compartment.

Next, GM's Rick Wagoner showed him a flex-fuel Chevy Impala with green and yellow racing stripes; Bush rapped on a passenger door twice with the back of his hand and ended that tour after 45 seconds. Finally, Chrysler's Tom LaSorda showed Bush the bio-diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee. The president put his hand on the hood and walked off after 30 seconds.

"I would hope that Congress would move expeditiously on our plan to reduce gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next 10 years," the president announced.

"We very much share the president's vision," said Wagoner.

"We at Ford absolutely are supportive of the president's goal," Mulally agreed.

"We're very committed to this as well," LaSorda piped up.

Of course, the automakers are supporting Bush's plan because they oppose efforts in Congress to cut gasoline usage twice as fast by imposing strict fuel-economy standards. But Bush and his guests made no mention of this as they left the green vehicles in the driveway and returned to the West Wing. The Secret Service's Chevrolet Suburbans, moved out of the camera shot minutes before the event, were free to return -- under power of neither wood chips nor sawgrass.