Barack Obama dismissed Rick Wagoner, and he is reportedly planning to dismiss a majority of GM’s Board of Directors. He also says he wants bold reform, so that General Motors offers the sort of cutting-edge products that the car buyers of today and tomorrow want. He also doesn’t like the Chevy Volt.
So what does Barack Obama expect us to drive? Today’s news gives us reason to worry. Maybe Obama doesn’t want Americans to own cars at all; maybe he expects us to buy this… thing:
You can read GM’s press release on this here. It’s a cute little toy actually, and I’m sure it’ll be very popular in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other warm(ish) cities where liberals cluster. This might make a very nice second or third vehicle in such locales, to be used for little jaunts around the city.
There are a few problems with the PUMA though. First off, to the extent that it is successful, it’s likely to draw a lot of riders away from mass transit. After all, if you can buy a two-seater for one-third to one-quarter the price of a car, get around town conveniently and be seen as a savior of the environment, why would you stay in a bus or train? If the PUMA can be bought for a few thousand dollars – and it’s probably a safe bet that Obama will give taxpayer subsidies to ensure that – it’s likely to replace mass transit for thousands of regular riders.
Beyond that, this vehicle can’t be successful in most American cities today. Who will want to drive in this car next to regular passenger vehicles, trucks, SUVs, and even 18-wheelers? To allow the PUMA to thrive, most of the cars you currently see on the road will probably have to be sidelined. Presumably this will be only in major cities – at least initially. Liberals in Washington and in the major cities can accomplish this in several ways: by barring them entirely, limiting the hours in which they can operate, or by making legislative changes that make those vehicles unpopular – such as increasing gas prices.
It seems to me that that last response has to be the most likely. Obama and the liberals can’t abide the internal combustion engine and the freedom it brought. As long as there are cars and SUVs available, people will pollute the air, have plenty of kids, and live in conservative exurbs far from city centers. Liberals don’t like any of these things. If they can get gasoline prices high enough, they’ll accelerate the ongoing trend toward urbanization. The PUMA is just one tool to make all this easier.
And if you’re wondering about the title, it’s a reference to this brilliant piece by Iowahawk:
With a claimed top speed of 35 mph and a range of up to 35 miles, the PUMA is just what Congress and Obama ordered.

Steve Maley
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
How do you go food shopping in this thing?
Moe Lane (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 2:42PM EST (link)Or take the kids anywhere?
Or pick up somebody at the airport?
Or survive a crash?
Or… you get the drift.
The Kim Kardashian of blogging.
Check out my blog at http://moelane.com/.
http://moelane.com/filthy-lucre-filthy-lucre/
http://twitter.com/moelane
My (combined) wish list.
Fathers would have to babysit while mom goes shopping! This shall not stand! - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 2:52PM EST (link)Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Don't know about that ;)
mom2oneson (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:06PM EST (link)I don’t know if this mom or any of my motherly figured friends would fit!
I don’t think it’s for women of child bearing age.
I thought it was a science projects a few invetor type of kids on their way to engineering school did for a competition when I first saw the picture!
But how will that be possible?
Raven (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 6:44PM EST (link)Biological fathers will be prevented from having any contact with their children…
“If you do not have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”
Luke 22:36
You're such a cynic...
Brian Faughnan (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 2:53PM EST (link)I’m sure there will be a spot under the seat for some arugula.
Then people will be able to discover the joy of ditching the fridge and eating nothing but fresh food. After all, who’ll be able to purchase enough food to last more than a day or so?
Negative, negative
JustLeaveMeAlone (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:17PM EST (link)If you get squashed like a bug by, say, a Lexus SUV, they only have 300 pounds of metal and glass to sweep up and recycle. You are biodegradable and will provide food for the carrion birds.
Doesn’t get greener than that!
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
My Escalade got hungry looking at this little thing.
robmikpet (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:50PM EST (link)Made in Texas and weighs 7000 pounds that is AMEIRCA. I can’t remember the company but they upgrade Chevy Tahoes with machine guns, that is what I am talking about.
Unashamed consumer, free market, gun loving! American is the best. Time to fight for her.
Hey! I had one of these when I was four!
JustLeaveMeAlone (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 2:51PM EST (link)n/t
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
Was it called a Big Wheel?
Brian Faughnan (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:28PM EST (link)NT
LOL!!!! 55555 nt
mom2oneson (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:38PM EST (link)Power Wheels
Raven (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 6:49PM EST (link)They were such a step up from Big Wheels…
“If you do not have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”
Luke 22:36
I think they were called "cozy coupes"
penguin2 (Diary) Wednesday, April 8th at 3:52AM EST (link)Oh that’s right, Big Wheels are the motorized version. My toddlers had the Cozy Coupe. Still can’t get my cars straight!
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. – Benjamin Franklin
When Good stands up to Evil, Evil blinks. – Vassar Bushmills
Conservative Education: Suggested Reading List
Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots
Well, Pelosi and Co.
Steph C (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:34PM EST (link)aren’t called the nanny state for nothin’ ya know.
I’d like to see her ride in one down one of the highest San Francisco streets. After all, if she’s going to play Mommy to the entire nation, she needs to make sure it’s safe for the “children”, doesn’t she?
“[I]f the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.” –Candidus in the Boston Gazette, 1772
Hillbilly Politics
I will let the liberals die in this contraption and I shall LIVE in my SUV....nt
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 2:55PM EST (link)…
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
This isn't a car
gigi36b Tuesday, April 7th at 3:36PM EST (link)it’s an electric wheelchair, which we are all going to need after Obama cripples us. Just don’t apply for a free one through government run healthcare, you’ll only get the old fashioned push kind.
As for shopping moms like me, we’ll just have to steal the shopping carts from the stores and walk home.
Details
nutmegger (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:42PM EST (link)Apparently these are meant to be used in areas already awash in bicycle lanes. I can, of course, count the number of streets with bicycle lanes in my area on… yep, one hand does the trick.
Also, amusingly, the vehicle you see is actually just the chassis; the finished product will sport “GM Styling,” whatever that means. There are some snapshots of concept art available at http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/gm-and-segways-p-u-m-a-makes-its-stage-debut/ but concept art is to finished product as HopeChange (TM) is to… well, the finished product.
One finger
kat (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 4:06PM EST (link)Is more than I would need…
“Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Thomas Jefferson
Join the RedState Strike Force
Have they ever seen a golf cart?
Steven Willis (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:49PM EST (link)They already exist, are electric, and they are likely much cheaper.
And, where exactly will people in New York or S.F. park these things?
“Let it be said, I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith.”
Paul, Second Timothy 4:7, The New Covenant.
Steve Willis
Professor of Law
University of Florida College of Law
South Park had an episode about the Segway
ddstrain (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 3:58PM EST (link)Seems that Parker and Stone are forward looking.
Though that show wasn’t nearly as funny as the cloud of smug (not a typo) drifting out of the Bay area caused by all those Toyota Puis (not a typo) drivers.
Coming soon . . .
pithnvinegar Tuesday, April 7th at 4:00PM EST (link)Diamond lanes on the sidewalk.
It better have some serious brakes or won’t be any good in SF or many other cities.
Where are you going to park them? Then again, by cutting parking spaces in half to accomodate them, you can double the parking fees in downtown areas. . . .
carefull
merkurfan Wednesday, April 8th at 12:03AM EST (link)They don’t need extra spots to double the fees…
They just need to adjust the meters.
Don’t give them any ideas.
What on Earth makes you think that Pelosi
Paul_In_Houston Tuesday, April 7th at 4:09PM EST (link)and Co. will ever use this thing.
This is for YOU.
THEY are IMPORTANT people and MUST have their Suburbans or Escalades..
Be reasonable now!.
-
You forgot..
merkurfan Wednesday, April 8th at 12:04AM EST (link)Pelosi one.. The jet that needs to be ready at her beck and call.
Behold the Europeanization of America.
Sharp_Right_Turn Tuesday, April 7th at 4:11PM EST (link)Ugh! What’s next? Can we Obama to force the NFL to convert to soccer so that Europeans like it more?
That thing makes Fred Flinstone's car seem like a '68 Mustang.
Sharp_Right_Turn Tuesday, April 7th at 4:19PM EST (link)Ugh! That piece of crap actually makes me wistful for this thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAqPMJFaEdY
Ford ACORN?!
Sharp_Right_Turn Tuesday, April 7th at 4:27PM EST (link)Once again, liberal twaddle gone amok.
Food for thought: Out here on Long Island, NY, our beloved Long Island Expressway’s HOV lane permits both carpoolers (2 passenger minimum) and hybrid cars (regardless of number of passengers) on it during rush hour. The irony is, hybrids engage their combustion engines while cruising down the freeway. It isn’t until they are around 30 mph (or riding the brakes) do they switch over to battery power. In other words, a hybrid car zooming down the HOV at 60 mph doesn’t prevent any auto emissions. So if NY was serious about the environment, they’d force hybrid cars to drive in the heart of the bumper to bumper traffic, when it’s omissions are apparently nonexistent.
Spare tire
californiared Tuesday, April 7th at 4:34PM EST (link)I’m getting one to put in my truck as a spare tire.
the lady in the picture
mom2oneson (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 4:34PM EST (link)looks like she is a size 6, and her thigh is over the seat. How is a size 14 suppose to fit? Is anyone over 25 suppose to fit?
How does this go in the snow?
wayneinnh (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 4:37PM EST (link)Bet it;s not as good as my SUV with satellite radio, air conditioning, heated seats, crash survivability, etc.
Jon 14:6 –
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
It’s not intellectual to believe we evolved from hydrogen gas.
WALL-E
Beaglescout (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 4:50PM EST (link)This is what the fatsos rode in their spaceship in the move WALL-E. Will we have robots and mega-jumbo-shakes everywhere too?
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”
"I didn't know we had a Pool!"
JLenardDetroit (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 5:23PM EST (link)I love that movie… despite it only being a 2 hour Global Alarmist Indoctrination (albeit, creatively done)!
Death of Global Warming (Aug. 2000) and the endless followups here at RS including Climate $cam
Regards from NoMoTown (the MOTORlessCITY)
“Liberals, looking to do for? America what they’ve done for? Detroit! which is DESTROY IT!”
“I think, therefore I am Conservative”
“Conservative by choice, Republican by necessity”
“You can lead a Liberal to the Truth/Facts, but you cannot make them THINK!”
“Romney [No, not my first choice] does NOT have a MORMON problem. He has a, far too many Americans; these days; are MORONS problem!”
Follow @JLenardDetroit
(RS:Help) (JLD) (Hollyweird) (Brain-deads) (SPIN-cycle) (Obamaocare) (Party of kNOw) (Conservatism) (TEApeats) (respectful) (message) (Warning: Children Will Die!!)
Heil “O” Hell No Obamao is NOT MY PRESIDENT! “No U won’t”
I want “O” to FAIL (here, here, & whole Diary (Ofail) here, is why)
“The first Liberal was Satan” – a Rush caller (other Quotes)
Absolutely
Beaglescout (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 10:41PM EST (link)From the premise (world covered, literally, a mile deep in trash and toxic waste) to the conclusion (leaving the comfy spaceship for a primitive horiticultural life) it is pure eco-prop. But it’s so well done, like a Leni Reifenstahl film, that you don’t care.
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”
Powered Rickshaw!
candoo2 (dkos funluvn1) (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 5:07PM EST (link)What’ll they think of next?
I make crude sexual jokes about conservatives.
That is so what it looks like!!! nt
mom2oneson (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 5:14PM EST (link)A friend of mine commented on seeing his first SMART car
TNJim (Diary) Wednesday, April 8th at 1:04AM EST (link)that it was just basically a highway legal golf cart. So now we have a powered rickshaw that wants to be street legal. Wonder how long that battery charge will last going up some of SF’s hills? Drop the Chevy Volt for this?
Yow!
Even unintentionally, they manage to be anti-family. nt
asleep06 (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 5:08PM EST (link)nt
Small is beautiful.
The liberals in Seattle complained this winter with the snow
bobojake (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 5:09PM EST (link)Watching liberals get around Seattle in the snow next winter will provide laughs for decades to come. And there won’t be any wrecks. eh
Pelosi will use it.
Common_Cents (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 5:10PM EST (link)It’s perfect for Pelosi, she’ll ride it up and down the aisle of her big private plane.
Obama=Golfer in Chief, Leading from,
behind, the Back Nine.Leaders don’t create movements. Movements create leaders. Get involved. Your future depends on it.
Govt “invests” YOUR tax money for POLITICAL return rather than economic return.
Wheres the CD Player. Wheres the the large woofers for the thump-ty thump. Hell, where are the tweeters.
gekster (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 5:50PM EST (link)And where do I put my Enya CDS?
Also in The Peoples Republic of Michigan, where if you don’t like the weather, just wait a half hour
and it will either rain or snow, wheres the compartment for my raincoat and/or Parka?
Looking closer, wheres the turn signals, lights,
5 mile per hour bumpers?
This looks more like a population control thing than a transportation thing.
Whats the weight limit for a rider.
Does it come with a cute little trailer to put books, groceries, kids.
Does Ralph Nader know about this?
Sooo many questions.
They say Republicans are for the rich, Democrats are for the poor.
If they need more voters,
then they have to make more of who they are for.
We are there in the various Tea Party groups, leaderless, but not rudderless.
We steer always toward the Constitutional principles this nation was founded upon.
Erick Brockway
Ok folks, 2012 is here. Get involved
That thing ain't got a gunrack! nt
Achance (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 7:09PM EST (link)In Vino Veritas
LOL
speciallist (Diary) Wednesday, April 8th at 12:12AM EST (link)lol
Does it come with a place for my clubs?
Darin_H (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 8:04PM EST (link)because you’d only find me driving one on the course.
And now that I have a kid, where does the car seat go? or do they just expect me to strap junior to the roof?
A visionary coward says that anger can be power, as long as there’s a victim on TV – Flat Top, Goo Goo Dolls
It could cost 1000 dollars
JHancock (Diary) Tuesday, April 7th at 9:04PM EST (link)I wouldn’t ever bother giving up the four-banger car I have now for this thing. If this is the future ofcars, I’ll never buyanew one-just keep fixing up my trusty (max spees 120mph) car
Is it sidewalk legal?
Herodotus Tuesday, April 7th at 9:26PM EST (link).
Sign Newt’s Drilling Petition. I have included a link to it in the below. Thank you.
http://www.americansolutions.com/
They have the name wrong
carlsbadd Tuesday, April 7th at 9:44PM EST (link)P.U.M.A.
People
Unfortunantly
Meeting
Asphalt
Looking at the photos...
merkurfan Wednesday, April 8th at 12:10AM EST (link)The dude is a buck 75 tops, if he farts, he’ll blow the girl right outta the car, shes 100 pounds dripping wet..
So, it’ll seat to horny teen agers, or one average adult. Even with the small people in it, the roll cage is useless, their shoulders are obviously outside of it.
I won’t know if a bug hit the grill of my truck, or one of these things when they hit the road.
$1000 to charge it up
spreadthered (Diary) Wednesday, April 8th at 12:21AM EST (link)If Obama get;s his cap and trade it’ll cost you a grand just to recharge it for an hour ride…..or 2 windmills.
I can just see myself pulling into the parking lot
Achance (Diary) Wednesday, April 8th at 5:00AM EST (link)at the bar closest to my marina in one of those things and parking it alongside the Harley-Davidsons and the half and three-quarter ton pickups. If anybody saw it, I’d have to fight my way out. NO man, I don’t men metrosexual little punks like the one in the picture, NO MAN would be caught dead in one of those things! That’s worse than a Vespa. At least with a Vespa you could maintain some hope of getting a girl wearing a skirt to ride with you.
In Vino Veritas