Obama Rally

Thanks to my good friend, and strong conservative, David Crotts, I attended an Obama rally Monday night in Chapel Hill, NC. I was able to make my way to floor level and was standing 3 rows back from the stage. It was awesome and I even got to shake hands with Obama after he spoke. Obama's speech included the normal talking points about making health insurance affordable for all, ending the war in Iraq, changing Washington and raising above politics. However, I thought the best point he made was his response to McCain's proposal for a Gas Tax holiday over the summer. Obama pointed out that the tax holiday would save Americans an average of $25-$30 over the 3 month summer "tax holiday", enough for 1/2 a tank of gas. At the same time no explanation to replace the highway trust fund to rebuild roads and bridges, where American's will sit longer in construction zone traffic wasting more gas. That's McCain's big solution. Obama pointed out that we need more leadership and ideas than that. McCain's solution is more quick fix solutions that sound good but will make no real difference. I love Obama for having the political courage to stand against this, unlike Clinton.

Unfortunately I forgot both my carmera and phone during the rally. But I gave the person standing next to me my email, so hopefully I'll receive some photos to post.

UPDATE: Some comments by economists supporting Obama's position:

This Reuters article cites Bush's former chariman of the Council of Economics advisors, economics professors, think tank wonks and Paul Krugman, all agreeing that the Gas Tax proposal sucks eggs. When you have Krugman and former Bush officials agreeing on something, it must truly be bad.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A gas tax holiday proposed by U.S. presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Clinton is viewed as a bad idea by many economists and has drawn unexpected support for Clinton rival Barack Obama, who also is opposed.

"Score one for Obama," wrote Greg Mankiw, a former chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. "In light of the side effects associated with driving ... gasoline taxes should be higher than they are, not lower."

Economists said that since refineries cannot increase their supply of gasoline in the space of a few summer months, lower prices will just boost demand and the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers. "You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington.