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Some criticism for the oil tax vacation

Bloomberg.com: Opinion

Clinton Caught in Time Warp With Windfall Oil Tax
Commentary by Amity Shlaes

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Jimmy Carter's in the news again. The former president wants a windfall-profits tax. No wait, he wants the U.S. to recognize Hamas. Hillary Clinton is the one who wants a windfall-profits tax.

It seems that every year, usually just around the time Memorial Day comes into view, a politician demands a tax on oil profits. Richard Nixon's economists offered one up in 1973, arguing, almost vindictively, that they were justified in imposing a stiff levy because the tax would "make up in some degree for windfalls which have occurred in the past...

Senator Clinton has couched her support in terms of the hunt for revenue: "I'm the only one with a plan,'' she said earlier this week. And lots of other Americans, not just Democrats, are eager for a break at the pump.

What to make of it? Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again, and each time expecting a different result. By this definition, a new windfall-profits tax would suggest a sort of collective insanity...

...All these missteps by his opponents actually leave Senator Barack Obama looking pretty good. He commented recently on the gas tax holiday, saying "this isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer. It's designed to get you through the election."

He's right. In her energy plans, Clinton believes she's found a political windfall. But those plans are so poorly crafted they may prove to be what wipes her out.