It looks like once again Barack Obama is shelving one of his landmark proposals. Not too long ago Barack Obama had reality set in when he decided he may continue the Bush interrogation tactics.

President-elect Barack Obama has shelved a proposal to slap the oil and gas companies with a new windfall profits tax because oil prices have dropped so much in recent months, the transition team confirmed today.

“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.”

It was around May of this year when Barack Obama vowed to punish the eviloil companies: “I’ll make oil companies pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we’ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills,” he said.

It looks like these policy shifts have been changing a lot lately now that he is elected.

Asked whether the energy rebate plan had likewise been put on hold, the transition aide said the rebates were included in a middle class “rescue plan” Obama released last month.

That plan calls for a permanent tax cut of $500 for a worker or $1,000 for a family, with the Internal Revenue Service using 2007 tax returns to send out the checks. Tax cuts also would be extended to seniors.

The policy shift came to light after officials at the American Small Business League noticed that the windfall profits tax language had been removed from the transition team’s Web site in what the group called “an unceremonious and abrupt manner.”

You would think this would anger his voters, but I highly doubt it. After all, they do drink the Obama kool-aid.

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