Byrd's opinion is 'elite' for a good reason

The last time I checked, Sen. Robert C. Byrd had not endorsed Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, which I thought a good move considering how much I want him to keep focused on the election of his long-time state director Anne Barth to the House of Representatives in WV-02.

Still, considering how much Senator Obama did for Senator Byrd with fundraising Byrd's 2006 re-election bid, you would think Sen. Hillary Clinton would not want to go out of her way to be so dismissive of Senator Byrd.

Senator Byrd, afterall, is one of the uncommitted superdelegates she's courting.

In an April 18 AP story, Byrd denounced the federal gasoline tax holiday proposal as a bad idea after it was proposed by Sen. John "A Bush 3rd Term" McCain, who was later joined by Senator Clinton.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., called McCain's idea "dangerous."
"This proposal would have dangerous consequences," Byrd said. "It would disrupt road construction projects across the country, and stymie economic development in the midst of a recession.

"Instead, we should be getting tough on oil companies who are reaping astronomical profits, and be pushing oil producing countries to lower prices, especially the ones benefiting from the national security efforts of the American taxpayers."

The estimate I've seen is over the course of three months, it would save Americans about $30 to $35, although in the most likely scenario, price rises from increased demand and the insatiable greed of the oil companies would eliminate even that minor cost savings.

But now Senator Clinton is denouncing those who are critical of her and McCain's idea.

Could she name a single economist who agrees with her support for the gas tax holiday?

Hillary sidestepped the question, and tried to use the complete dearth of expert support for the idea to her advantage, pointing to it as proof that she's on the side of ordinary folks against "elite opinion" -- a phrase she used twice.

"I think we've been for the last seven years seeing a tremendous amount of government power and elite opinion behind policies that haven't worked well for hard working Americans," she said.

A bit later she added: "It's really odd to me that arguing to give relief to a vast majority of Americans creates this incredible pushback...Elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that don't benefit" the vast majority of the American people.

Another time before, Senator Byrd denounced a major proposal by a Republican as "dangerous," but Senator Clinton's judgment led her to embrace it. That was the Iraq war. She should have listened to Senator Byrd's 'elite opinion' then as she should have this time, too.