Schadenfreude — I feel the Tahoe owners’ pain, and laugh

I just don’t give a damn about your self-inflicted pain. The average American SUV owner, in addition to blaming Detroit, Congress and the White House for a lack of fuel policy, not that they’re all not to blame, which they are.

You the SUV driver are ultimately the one to blame. Your belief in American greed, American exceptionalism, and American invasions in the Middle East, along with a willful parochialism which includes a refusal to learn much about the outside world, let alone learn from it what we could be doing better on energy issues, is why your Tahoe now costs $100 to fill up. (Getty images photo original.)

In essence, lured by cheap gas, and five-, six- or even seven-year loans, you willingly signed up for the vehicular equivalent of a subprime mortgage.

And, you’re going to have to deal with it a loooongggg time. As former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond (AP original photo) said:

“By the time there is panic, people need to realize this: There is no quick-fix on this. By the time you panic, it is way too late.”

Oh, and here’s a bit of ironical bitch-slap for you. David H. Obelcz, founder of the Chevy Avalanche Fan Club of North America, has sold his Avalanche.

And, as late as it is, one top-ranking elected official, GOP Sen. Pete Domenci of New Mexico, is admitting he made a mistake in the past:

“We were like everybody else,” he says. “We should have been more active on CAFE sooner.”

Dirty little non-secret, though, is that Pete feels free to say that because he’s retiring.

At the same time, Domenici doesn’t believe GM’s hype about the Volt, or anything else that’s coming from Detroit’s mouth:

“They talked a good research game,” he says. “But let’s face it, little was being done. They are suffering the consequences and could go broke just like the airlines.”