Obama backs off windfall profit tax pledge

President-elect Obama is going back on his pledge to tax the profits of oil companies, much to the dismay of his own party.

"President-elect Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," a transition aide said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."

This is good news. This same policy was tried back in the 70s and it drove gas prices through the roof. So with gas prices finally falling, a windfall profit tax would have been bad for the economy and bad for consumers.

Obviously, that tax would have been passed on to consumers.

I've said I would support Obama when he made smart decisions and this is one of those times.

Oddly enough, Obama seems to be getting more criticism from Democrats these days than Republicans.

A little prediction, Obama is going to have more problems with his own party than he is with Republicans.

I'll write a little more on this tomorrow.