Both McCain and Clinton have said that they'd do away with the federal gas tax. If memory serves that's about nineteen cents a gallon. That would be a savings of about 5% if my math is right. I have a few problems with that.

1) It's a drop in the bucket and with gas prices continuing to go north that percentage will get smaller.
2) If it does pass then demand will simply increase. Supply will stay relatively fixed. I don't know much but that seems to be a recipe for the price to go up.
3) Assuming that that gas tax does go towards paying for something like roads, where would the new revenue stream come from?
4) If it does go away when will it come back? Who will have the guts to bring it back?
5) It's nothing more than pandering. It won't happen more than likely and if it does then it won't help.

Comments? Please? Am I waaaaay off base here?

sometimes the Constitution is just one big inconvenient headache.

Sorry guys.

As many of you know from my other ventures in the Internets, I am a space nerd. Extraplanetary exploration and on-orbit technology has been close to my heart since childhood. The only real hesitation I've had lingering in the back of my mind about the candidates has been the total lack of policy discussion on the issue. That is, until now.
Thanks to my friends on Twitter, I've found the answers to my questions, and they all verify my left-ward leanings this year.

Here's a decent Google slideshow comparing the two.

Barack Obama's Space Policy (in .pdf)

Some excerpts:

Since 1981, the Space Shuttle has been NASA’s workhorse. Its retirement will leave NASA without human spaceflight capability until the first elements of the Constellation program are operational, some five years later. This gap between the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the entry into service of its replacement is a serious
concern. Barack Obama is committed to making the necessary investments to ensure we close this gap as much as is technically feasible and to minimize reliance on foreign space capabilities. He also will work with the space industry to ensure retention of workforce and technical capabilities during the transition from the shuttle to its successor.
...
Obama will expedite the development of the Shuttle’s successor systems for carrying Americans to space so we can minimize the gap. This will be difficult; underfunding by the Bush administration has left NASA with limited flexibility to accelerate the development of the new systems.
...
Barack Obama would ensure that NASA and other federal agencies are fully utilizing the ISS to conduct research that can help address global challenges such as public health and energy independence and can develop technologies that can provide economic benefits to Earth. Obama also will enable research on the ISS to support long-term human exploration and planetary research needs.
...
Barack Obama will support renewed human exploration beyond low earth orbit. He endorses the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars.
...
The United States needs to fully involve international partners in future exploration plans to help reduce costs and to continue close ties with our ISS partners. NASA has been working with 13 other space agencies to develop a globally coordinated approach to space exploration; Barack Obama will not only continue but intensify this effort. Human exploration beyond low-earth orbit should be a long-term goal and investment for all space faring countries, with America in the lead.

Excerpts from John McCain's Space Program Policies:

Current U.S. space operations policy commits the U.S. to completing the International Space Station (ISS) by 2010 and then terminating the Space Shuttle flights, with the completion of the ISS. The NASA vision for space exploration calls for sending a robotic lunar lander to the Moon in 2008/2009 time period to begin searching for potential base sites and for development and deployment of a new manned space craft for lunar missions.
...
As President, John McCain will --
* Ensure that space exploration is top priority and that the U.S. remains a leader;
* Commit to funding the NASA Constellation program to ensure it has the resources it needs to begin a new era of human space exploration.
* Review and explore all options to ensure U.S. access to space by minimizing the gap between the termination of the Space Shuttle and the availability of its replacement vehicle;
* Ensure the national space workforce is maintained and fully utilized; Complete construction of the ISS National Laboratory;
* Seek to maximize the research capability and commercialization possibilities of the ISS National Laboratory;
* Maintain infrastructure investments in Earth-monitoring satellites and support systems;
* Seek to maintain the nation's space infrastructure;
* Prevent wasteful earmarks from diverting precious resources from critical scientific research;
* and Ensure adequate investments in aeronautics research.

Although these statements are similar, Sen. McCain's is startlingly sparse and almost entirely without detail. Sen. Obama's is very specific, naming dollar amounts and exact plans for NASA and its missions. It is also about 5x longer than McCain's. Not surprisingly, Barack Obama has been endorsed by a number of NASA officials, employees, scientists and operations personnel (including most of the Astronaut Corps).

The future is very near.

This time, let's try to keep our heads IN the clouds.

Links provided by Obamanauts.org.

Here's an article from a conservative in NC, who canvassed for Obama this year. Multiply this story by a few hundred thousand and you can see why a community organizer is exactly what this country needs right now.

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this predominantly black neighborhood.

We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, "Who is it?"

"We're from the Obama campaign," we'd answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch to talk.
...
I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.

My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me.

Jonathan Curley is a banker. He voted for George H.W. Bush twice and George W. Bush once.

This time, it might actually be more about the people than about the words of empty promises.

All we can do is Hope.