She can continue to push for this because she knows the Democratic Congress is never going to allow it to come to a vote. Its consequent-less pandering. She can hit on Pelosi and the Dems for being against the working people (though lord knows why she would, since she'll need that support if she wants to be the nominee), and still hide behind their political cover. She can seem independent of the Democrats. She can hit Obama for being against the working people. And she knows she'll never have to pay a political price for it either way, cause its a proposal that's DOA.

Smart. sketchy, but smart.

vis Clinton and Obama? Then all the snarling can take place over some real issues instead of this bullshit he-is-a-clueless-phony and she-is-a-pandering-warmonger.

Senator Obama,

Apparently America does not get it. Tell them even if Hillary is the nominee, she cannot lower the tax this summer as she will not be President. The same thing is obviously true about McCain. And, even if they were President, all they could do is propose it next year, but not this year.

What Hillary or McCain could be doing RIGHT now is putting their money where their mouth is and get in front of Congress instead of the people to present this going nowhere campaign case.

Of course, talking about reason and sense would make Obama elitist....

How can she say this stuff with a straight face? Nothing will happen this summer unless she has introduced legislation. Can the president even order taxes to be changed? I doubt it, taxation is the Congress's prerogative. So she's talking about stuff she can't do even next year and pretending it's an urgent task to be done before Memorial Day.

"Not a single expert who thinks her proposal would do Americans any good"

I hope that the next time a talking head has an opportunity, they ask her about what "experts" she has advising her otherwise. What actual information can she provide to support her argument.

Then ask her about the fact "there's no reason to believe that the oil companies will actually pass on to consumers the full savings from the suspension of the tax"

She jumped off the bridge before checking the height, now she is trying to spin this as an Obama doesn't care tale. Just like he said, McCain had a bad idea, and Hilldog jumped at it before doing any kind of analysis.

Sorry, but I don't want the person answering at three a.m. to be a compulsive lying copy-cat.

O-08

I want some reporter to interview Clinton's top economic adviser, Robert Rubin about this issue. I want to know if this actual experts inside her campaign think that the gas-tax holiday is a good idea economically. Will it actually provide the kind of ready relief that she is promising or is it such a tiny drop in the bucket as to be inconsequential?

I have to believe that this is the worst example yet in a long season of pandering. Clinton knows that this idea makes no sense in either the short or long term. She sticks to her idea because she believes she can appeal in this fashion to unthinking voters. She feels she looks like a populist "fighter" when she makes absurd pronoucements like this.

I would prefer as president someone who is ready to stand for common sense solutions and higher order thinking. Someone who listens to economists and reads widely and deeply about any number of questions before rendering judgment; someone who offers to the American people candid examinations of complex issues rather than foolish "fighting."

Someone like Barack Obama.

I'd like a holiday from Hillary. The only kind of gas this proposal is really about, is the hot kind, that's emmited from a politician's rear end.

Ensuring that, even if she wins the presidency AND we retain control of the Congress (highly unlikely if she's the nominee), that we'll have another 1993 situation where no one will want to work for her because its her way or the highway...

What progressives in this country can't afford is 8 more years of "stasis" where all we get is a prolonged stalemate. We need to make inroads - we NEED to institute changes. Only a President Obama and a Democratic Congress will ensure that (and only a candidate Obama can deliver gains down-ticket)!

But it raises another question for me.

Since she's not really proposing a gas tax holiday, but rather is proposing that the oil companies continue to pay the tax (in one form or another) but not pass it on to the consumer...

Is there any precedent for the government dictating what cost a company can or can't pass on to consumers?

How would such a directive be policed and enforced?

How would one separate market-based (such as they are) price increases from passing on the cost of the tax?

And I still don't understand how lowering the cost of gasoline in the short term won't increase cost in the long term, via increased demand.

Or why the companies, once the gas holiday ends, wouldn't just increase prices to compensate for revenue lost during the holiday...

Explanations? Elucidations? (But no rationalizations...)

Clinton's plan does specifically address the question of whether the tax relief is passed on. Her plan says: Hillary will ensure that this relief is passed along to consumers by charging the Federal Trade Commission with conducting aggressive oversight.

As for the savings: Recent testimony before the House of Representatives by the American Trucking Association indicates that even small changes in price can have big impacts. Just a one-penny decrease in the price of diesel annualized over an entire year would save the trucking industry $391 million a year.

Her entire plan, which Obama's ad does not mention is outlined as follows:

Imposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies and using the money to suspend the gas tax for the peak summer months;

Closing $7.5 billion in oil and gas loopholes and using the funds to provide assistance for lower-income families to pay their energy and grocery bills;

Cracking down on speculation by energy traders and market manipulation in oil and gas markets that are driving up the price of oil by at least $20 a barrel;

Pressuring OPEC to increase oil production, including by filing a WTO complaint against OPEC countries

Stopping new additions to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and standing ready to release oil to counter market spikes and reduce volatility.