We try to stay out of politics here at Autoblog, but sometimes, events obligate us to jump into the fray. The latest event is a Harvard Business School professor's comparison of the two leading presidential candidates to automobiles.
John Quelch said in an interview with Newsweek that he thinks of Barrack Obama as a new Prius and John McCain as an "old Ford F-150." Politically, those two products carry some weighty social symbolism that, as car guys, we're not all that concerned with.
But we do wonder what Mr. Quelch's comments mean to us. The Prius is generally seen as a visually boring, fiscally-conservative choice with little to no fun factor. On the other hand, an old Ford pickup truck isn't exactly exciting to look at and drinks a lot of gas, but it'll carry a lot more furniture on moving day and is way more fun in the mud than the Toyota. Then, in an interview with AdAge, Mr. Quelch says that by choosing Alaska Governer Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain has put a red Chevy Camaro next to his truck.
Hmm. Palin as a Camaro? Next to McCain's Ford truck? Sounds like a house divided to us.
How about it? Is Obama a hybrid Japanese car? McCain a pickup truck? Should Mr. Quelch have said Palin is a Barracuda?
[Sources: AdAge via Newsweek]
