Posted on 06/28/2009 5:41:02 PM PDT by james.richardson
Top White House aide David Axelrod told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos today that the administration intends to explore a number of means by which it can overhaul the nation’s health care system, but refused to reaffirm then-candidate Barack Obama’s “firm pledge” to not raise taxes on middle class Americans.
“The president had said in the past that he does not believe taxing health care benefits at any level is necessarily the best way to go here,” said Axelrod. “He still believes that, but there are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see.”
Obama has not always been open to “a number of formulations,” however. In fact, prompted by Republican accusations his tax plan would hurt middle class pocketbooks, Obama was quite adamant he would do no such thing. While campaigning in Dover, NH, Obama said, “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
Slow to fulfill campaign pledges or entirely reversing his position on others, the president has come under fire from the most loyal of Democratic Party activists, including the LGBT community and environmentalists, but waffling on his no-middle-class-tax-hike pledge stands to pit the irresolute president against a majority of the American voting public, not just disillusioned splinter groups.
After pressed on whether the president will draw “a line in the sand” by a persistent Stephanopoulos, Axelrod refused to take the bait and align the administration with any such ultimatum.
“One of the problems we've had in this town is that people draw lines in the sand and they stop talking to each other. And you don't get anything done. That's not the way the president approaches this,” he said.
The reason for President Obama’s now-obvious reticence to pursue campaign pledges—or make intractable ultimatums, for that matter—is quite simple. Keeping promises while juggling the competing interests of donors, activists, and voters is no simple feat. If you don’t make a promise, you can’t break it.
Then-candidate Barack Obama made promises of impossibilities—of a transparent government, of a new politics, of a hopeful and peaceful American—and performed little. Now-President Barack Obama makes no promises and yet he still performs little.
Color me surprised.
Cross-posted at Skepticians.com.
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No way! /s
obama, you suck.
To the millions of fools that voted him in, <sarc> thank you very much too.</sarc> (spit) You're getting what you deserve, problem is you're dragging us into the sewer with you.
Where is Joe Biden? Wasn’t he the dunce appointed to look out for all of us middle class folks?
Say it ain’t so Joe!
Obama’s read my lips moment. But the media will not notice. Hopefully voters will. The question is will the GOP even bother to make it an issue.
I wonder if Obama's butt is big enough to take the bites it's going to take when it comes around...
“The President kept all the promises he intended to keep.” George Stephanopolous when he worked for the Clinton Administration.
How is this different from the massive, “historical and landmark” tax increase that the House passed on Friday? How many damn tax increases do these Marxists need?
So he lied and knew he was lying. Unfortunately, he will get a free pass on this like he gets a free pass on everything else.
Hmmmm...note to self: look poor and keep your money.
Oh, they'll notice. They just don't think we need to notice...
It’s like the early screwed-up days of the Clinton Administration all over again, but worse!
This is a trial balloon. Axelrod knew going into the interview what he was going to be asked and what he would use for answers. He is willing to be publicly chastened by Great Leader if there is a real outcry over his statements. It is all for the greater cause.
Wow, he lied? Who would have thought, except of course the millions of us who voted against the lying POS to start with.
The trouble is that Obama never says “read my lips.” It’s always something like “I don’t think that that approach is necessarily something we should rule out as the only way that could be better than any other.”
Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250K. Nothing ambiguous about it.
I think, in context, that the “promise” referred only to the income tax. Although I don’t believe anything he says, in or out of context. And on any occasion when it appears to me that he has said something true, I look into it further to find out why it’s a lie.
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