Well, the long and short of it is that the politicians are all worthless (almost, there might be a couple that arent). As for the thread getting political, the whole existence of hybrids is political. We are subsidizing the production and purchase of these machines, and, truth be told, they really are not what they are cracked up to be. If this is what we had:
1977 Honda Civic CVCC Vintage Print Ad
And this is what we have now, 25/36mpg for a 2011 civic.
I am most certain that we have had the technology, and had we developed technology like this over the last 34 years of model years, 50 mpg would be pretty standard. Granted, weights have gone up, hp, electronics, and other crap has gone up, but should it negate the possibility of getting 50mpg from a gasoline car? I think the politics started a long time ago, long before we were debating the Government Motors Volt.