Since the post-RNC-convention John McCain has made the elimination of earmarks the centerpiece of his "reform" agenda, why shouldn't Barack Obama vow to eliminate earmarks, too? While Obama is setting forth his agenda for healing the nation's economic misery, perhaps he should cut out the one leg propping up the McCain/Palin agenda by saying he'd so the same thing? In fact, there are some ways that Obama could make the case that he will be more proactive than McCain at cutting wasteful government spending and reducing corruption and pork in the government appropriations process.

Perhaps Obama could make the pledge very specific, something like this: I will put an end to the days when lawmakers put pork into legislation in the middle of the night by signing into law in my first year in office a comprehensive government appropriations reform bill that will eliminate the earmarking process by the end of my first term. Going forward, any  specific government setasides will be proceeded by public hearings and done via an open, honest, and transparent process (which is really all McCain has vowed to do anyways, his sweeping rhetorical statements aside).

Obama is the real reformer in this election. In his short time as a Senator, he has already demonstrated a willingness to tackle ethics legislation. It seems natural that as president he would be willing to sign legislation that would improve the transparency and openness of the legislative process. 

Why not steal this issue for McCain and thereby make it virtually impossible for McCain/Palin to cast themselves as the real change agents? McCain can hardly cite as a major flaw that Obama has sought earmarks in the past, given that Palin has done the same thing.

My best guess is the American people don't care a whit about earmarks. I would also guess that the government appropriations process could get along just fine without earmarks as such (probably any reform legislation would find some sort of clever way to substitute something much like this for legislators' pet projects but under a different name). So why give McCain this leg to stand on, when Obama can cut it out from under him at very little cost?