And then in the next sentence Obama manages to belittle the proposal because in his opinion Congress is not going to act to help the people of Indiana and across America. So what does this say of his well known claims that he is the best experienced person to bring people together to get beyond partisanship and Washington as usual politics?

Because Washington as usual politics lets all hell break loose before doing a single thing to correct it. Just where is Senator Obama's leadership and mythical skills he claims every single day to possess? They sure aren't being applied to helping ordinary Americans cope with this horrible economy and toothless Congress.

What strikes me the most is how Republican Obama's attitude is. After all, aren't Republicans the ones that adamantly insist that shifting tax breaks from corporations to ordinary Americans will cost jobs. I am sure I have heard them say that at least 500 times in my lifetime. At a minimum. Maybe this is one of the things Obama admires about Republicans that he didn't tell Chris Wallace. Because now that he is a millionaire he believes that us lesser folk should be able to live on the scraps that the elite leave behind for us.

Hillary has it right when she stands up straight and strong and asks: Are they with us or against us?

Clinton to Congress: You're either with us or against us

"I believe it would be important to get every member of Congress on record," Clinton told supporters at a rally in southern Indiana. "Do they stand with the hard-pressed Americans who are trying to pay their gas bills at the gas station or do they once again stand with the oil companies?

"I want to know where people stand and I want them to tell us, are they with us or against us when it comes to taking on the oil companies?"

And while Obama will stand back and demean the benefits of this tax relief and then add that there is no consensus in Congress to pass it, Hillary does what leaders do. She leads. Today she introduced the legislation.

Clinton Presses on Gas Tax Holiday

Mrs. Clinton introduced legislation in the Senate today proposing the gas tax holiday and covering the cost of it through a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies, a campaign spokesman said.

Because that is what leaders do. They take a stand that they know is just, even against impossible odds. And when everyone counts them out they press on and do what is right. For to lead you must be in touch with the needs of the electorate. And you have to have vision.

Clinton To Introduce Legislation For Federal Gas Tax Holiday

"I imagine that President Bush will be against it. Anything that goes against the oil companies you can count on the two oil men in the White House being against, that kind of is something we've gotten used to. But we've got to be prepared, and we've got to take the case. And we've got to do everything we can to try to get some changes out of congress. Then we've got to get really in position when finally we have a new president next January to get serious about overcoming all of our energy costs and our challenges."

People like Senator Obama claim to represent change but come to Washington and play all the same Washington games. They take no bold steps, they ignore the less fortunate because they can't finance their campaign and they say NO WE CAN'T anytime anyone tries to break the well hardened Washington politics as usual mold.

Obama's Negative Can't Do Attitude

But Senator Clinton does have some support for her plan in Congress. After all, the person who first proposed it was John McCain. So I guess when she says "are you with us or against us" - Senator Clinton is referring to her and John McCain. That's one vote she's got, because on this issue, Hillary Clinton and John McCain are reading from the same political playbook.

That is a prime example of Washington as usual politics. When someone offers a proposal that helps ordinary people and helping ordinary people would piss off some of your biggest contributors the only way you can respond is to tear the person down. And Senator Obama does that very well. Because he doesn't want people to remember who HE is and what HE has done.

On Hillary's Gas-Tax "Holiday"

Where were Obama supporters when he took tens of thousands of dollars from the Exelon (nuclear power) Corporation, and subsequently helped kill an amendment in Congress that would have spiked millions of dollars in loan guarantees for the company--loans that Taxpayers for Common Sense and Citizens Against Government Waste called "one of the worst provisions in this massive piece of legislation"?

Where were Obama supporters when he backed Joe Lieberman over Ned Lamont, contributing $4,200 to Lieberman's campaign?

Where were Obama supporters when he pushed big subsidies (including the "Obama amendment," offering oil companies a 50 percent tax credit for building gas stations offering the E85 ethanol blend) for corn ethanol production in Congress--calling corn ethanol "a clean, renewable, and domestically produced alternative fuel"? For that matter, where were they when he voted for 2005's corporate-welfare energy bill?

Where were Obama supporters when he backed "clean" coal initiatives as part of the "clean energy revolution"?

Where were they when he enthusiastically picked up an endorsement from Big Coal's biggest lobbyist?

Senator Obama had no problem whatsoever of voting for a gas tax holiday when he was in the Illinois Senate. What he now claims is Washington as usual politics was certainly good enough for the citizens of Illinois.

Obama Dismisses Gas Tax Holiday

Obama took a different view on the issue when he was an Illinois legislator, voting at least three times in favor of temporarily lifting the state's 5 percent sales tax on gasoline.

The tax holiday was finally approved during a special session in June of 2000, when Illinois motorists were furious that gas prices had just topped $2 a gallon in Chicago.

During one debate, he joked that he wanted signs on gas pumps in his district to say, "Senator Obama reduced your gasoline prices."

So one has to ask: If Senator Obama was so certain that the gas tax holiday was of no value to the citizens of Illinois why did he vote for it not once but three times? Is it because it actually helped his constituents or is it because he is well versed and experienced in the Washington business as usual politics that he now pretends to distance himself from?

Senator Obama claims that the gas tax holiday in Illinois didn't work. But the facts do not support his contention. Instead, the facts are inconclusive.

But the impact of the tax holiday was never clear. A government study could not determine how much of the savings was passed along to motorists. Many lawmakers said their constituents didn't seem to have benefited. They also worried the tax break was pushing the state budget out of balance.

You know, Hillary gets it. She understands that we need to think long term. But in the meantime something needs to be done NOW to relieve the real pressures that ordinary Americans face in their daily lives.

Will Voters Accept Obama's Gas Plea?

"Of course we need a long-term plan, but I'm not going to sit idly by and watch as independent truckers go out of business," Sen. Clinton said Wednesday at a rally in Kokomo, Ind. Thursday, after Exxon Mobil Corp. reported a 17% increase in first-quarter profit that fell short of investors' expectations, Sen. Clinton said in a statement: "There is something seriously wrong with our economy when Exxon's record $11 billion in quarterly profits are seen as a disappointment by Wall Street."

Promises to change Washington politics could be cold comfort to motorists as gas prices climb toward $4 a gallon. The price of regular, unleaded gasoline averaged $3.60 nationwide this week.

Hillary may not have all the answers. And yes, a savings of $70 isn't a lot to a family. But it is $70 more than they had from the inaction of Washington as usual politics.

"At least she's trying to do something," said Jason Allen Wilfing, a factory foreman whom Sen. Clinton accompanied on a trip to a gas station in South Bend, Ind., Wednesday.

Amen brother. Thank goodness someone is.

I don't know about the rest of you but I can't support a candidate that speaks of hope and change but when it comes right down to making decisions he sides with the status quo and says NO WE CAN'T.

Bobby Kennedy was a great American and one of my heroes. He uttered the following words. They are the REAL politics of hope and change and they exemplify the CAN DO attitude that Hillary has made the centerpiece of her campaign. It is no wonder that Robert Kennedy Jr. has wholeheartedly endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?  
Robert Francis Kennedy