Am I the only one who thinks this presidential primary season is turning more and more into silly time at the happy farm? The gas tax holiday debate now raging between the candidates is nothing more than the idiocy du jour.
McCain got the ball rolling by proposing a summer recess from the 18-cent a gallon federal tax on gasoline. As he put it:
"I'd like to see families in America have a relief from ever-increasing costs of gasoline so maybe at the end of the summer, after this tax holiday, they could buy school supplies for their children."
Quite a sweet thought but since everyone agrees that the savings for the average American family would be around $30, McCain should have said ‘a bit of the school supplies for one of their children, maybe.’
And if there’s any doubt that this proposal was little more than populist puff, then take note that McCain’s economic advisors did not develop this proposal. It was the brainchild of Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
Hillary quickly jumped on McCain’s bandwagon. But she decided to notch up the populist appeal of the gas tax holiday by saying she will pay for it with a windfall profit tax on the energy companies. As she stumps with her proposal she is firing up crowds with populist rhetoric that sounds like its coming right out of the mouths of socialists, anarchists and anti-globalists:
"We’re going to start building the political will to go after the oil companies."
"Let the oil companies pay the federal gas tax for the next months!"
"I want the Congress to stand up and vote. Are they for the oil companies, or are they for you?"
In a highly orchestrated and almost bizarre appearance at the gas pumps, Hillary paid the gas bill for a struggling American driving a huge ¾ ton Ford F250 pickup with a gas guzzling V-12 engine. The truck didn’t even belong to her voter-prop. It belonged to his boss, but it sure made for a great photo-op. Imagine the scene as reported in the media:
Clinton rode shotgun and Wilfing drove the truck at slow speeds as her traveling chief of staff, Huma Abedin, and a Secret Service agent sat in the back seat.
A motorcade of eight Chevrolet Suburban SUVS (gas mileage: about 15 miles per gallon) carrying her entourage, Secret Service agents and eight members of the traveling press corps, accompanied the truck to a local gas station.
Wilfing pumped gas as Clinton explained her plan to get tough on the oil companies and create a gas tax holiday for the summer season. “I believe so strongly that the gas companies have to be a part of the solution,” Clinton said as the price on the pump ticked past $60.
Clinton went into the store to pay for the gas and also bought a French Vanilla Cappuccino. She couldn’t quite figure out how to work the coffee dispenser but her chief of staff quickly jumped in to help.
“My situation is special because of security and the Secret Service…But I hear a lot about high gas prices,” Clinton told reporters as she stood with Jason Allen Wilfing, a 33-year-old field foreman at the Deluxe Sheet Metal plant.
Wilfing says he can barely make ends meet because of the high cost of fuel. His seven-year-old daughter, Alexis, had to stop taking gymnastics lessons (“She was just getting really good,” says Jason’s wife, Bobbie Wilfing, 34 and a stay-at-home mother). The family had to cancel its summer vacation to Lake Michigan and can barely afford to buy groceries.
That’s a truly touching and troubling image of a normal working American family struggling to make ends meet. Did Hillary bother to mention that her plan might save his family $30 over the three-month tax holiday? Well, maybe with his gas-guzzler they could save closer to $45, still hardly enough to pay for the daughter’s gymnastic lessons or their cancelled summer vacation.
But there she was, giving this guy a convenient target – the oil companies – for his frustration while using him to win brownie points for an idea that won’t ease his pain. In fact, most experts agree that the move won’t even lead to lower prices at the pump. And members of Clinton’s own party are against it as well. But that’s why they call it populist pandering, isn’t it.
It’s a truly sad indication of the state of affairs of this campaign that this incredible non-issue - $30 per family benefit! – is getting so much attention, is taking up so much time and is the object of so much back and forth nit-picking. Much ado about nothing, as they say. What could have been a truly transformational campaign season is now officially a remake of Monty Python’s classic sketch, “The Ministry of Silly Walks.”
This ridiculous gas tax holiday debate may be giving me gas, but it’s the level to which these candidates are sinking that really stinks.
You get gas pains. My stomach is getting upset as well.....
Posted by: Simonne Walvisch | May 03, 2008 at 08:32