LET THEM BUY HYBRID VANS: “No doubt, even folks who disagree with President Obama on just about everything would pull back from endorsing a ten-child family unless the parents can afford them. But that’s pretty much the point: Doubling the fuel bill on the car by which the large family gets around reduces affordability. Moreover, it reduces affordability for a family already in particular circumstances, and it’s not inconceivable that the family size resulted from adoptions meant to rescue the children from worse. To declare that the father should spring for a large, expensive hybrid vehicle is to skirt the question, to put the blame for difficulties on the asker, and to impose government priorities on a highly diverse population — diverse not only in the liberal meaning of multiracial, but in the more significant (more conservative) meaning of varying circumstances and priorities.”

Also, is there such a thing as a “hybrid van?” My Highlander Hybrid SUV is really just a minivan with plausible deniability, but you can’t buy a full-sized van — or even an actual minivan — that’s a hybrid, can you? Apparently, people are begging for them, but none have appeared. Clearly, this calls for more government subsidies! And over at The Truth About Cars they’re wondering “why doesn’t anybody make a hybrid van?” So maybe some enterprising reporter will ask the President what model he had in mind?

Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.