Barack Obama gives up the right to challenge Clinton and McCain on the Gas Tax Holiday

OK, I thought the idea of a summer gas tax holiday was not only lame, but represented pure political pandering.

Senator Barack Obama was right to ridicule the idea, neatly forcing Senator Hillary Clinton into a rather stupid, populist stance against all the economists who also criticized the plan.

Now, however, by voting in lemming-like fashion with 96 of his colleagues to suspend filling the Strategic Oil Reserve on the idiotic premise that it will deliver relief to American consumers, Obama has proven himself to be just as capable of pandering.

Let's see: This courageous act will free up 70,000 barrels per day--approximately 0.6% of the 635 million barrels the US will consume this month: potentially driving down the price of gas by 2-5 cents per gallon.

Eliminating the Federal gas tax would have reduced the price 18.4 cents per gallon, a savings that Obama considered just two weeks ago to be one of Clinton's "phony ideas, calculated to win elections instead of actually solving problems."

This would have been a really good time for leadership in that "Change We Can Believe In" style.

Unfortunately not.

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