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Last 24 Hours
Obama's Scapegoat Strategy
- Charles Krauthammer, Washington
President Obama first tried finding excuses, blaming America?s dismal condition on Japanese supply-chain interruptions, the Arab Spring, European debt and various acts of God.
Didn?t work. Sounds plaintive, defensive. Lacks fight, which is what Obama?s base lusts for above all.
Hence Obama?s new strategy: Don?t whine, blame. Attack. Indict. Accuse. Who? The rich ? and their Republican protectors ? for wrecking America.
In Obama?s telling, it?s the refusal of the rich to ?pay their fair share? that jeopardizes Medicare. If millionaires don?t pony up, schools will crumble. Oil-drilling tax breaks are costing teachers their jobs. Corporate loopholes will gut medical research.
It?s crude. It?s Manichaean. And the left loves it. As a matter of math and logic, however, it?s ridiculous. Obama?s most coveted tax hike ? an extra 3 to 4.6 percent for millionaires and billionaires (weirdly defined as individuals making more than $200,000) ? would have reduced last year?s deficit (at the very most) from $1.29 trillion to $1.21 trillion. Nearly a rounding error. The oil-drilling breaks cover less than half a day?s federal spending. You could collect Obama?s favorite tax loophole ? depreciation for corporate jets ? for 100 years and it wouldn?t cover one month of Medicare, whose insolvency is a function of increased longevity, expensive new technology and wasteful defensive medicine caused by an insane malpractice system.
After three years, Obama?s self-proclaimed transformative social policies have yielded a desperately weak economy. What to do? Take the low road: Plutocrats are bleeding the country, and I shall rescue you from them.
Last 24 Hours
Obama's Scapegoat Strategy
- Charles Krauthammer, Washington
President Obama first tried finding excuses, blaming America?s dismal condition on Japanese supply-chain interruptions, the Arab Spring, European debt and various acts of God.
Didn?t work. Sounds plaintive, defensive. Lacks fight, which is what Obama?s base lusts for above all.
Hence Obama?s new strategy: Don?t whine, blame. Attack. Indict. Accuse. Who? The rich ? and their Republican protectors ? for wrecking America.
In Obama?s telling, it?s the refusal of the rich to ?pay their fair share? that jeopardizes Medicare. If millionaires don?t pony up, schools will crumble. Oil-drilling tax breaks are costing teachers their jobs. Corporate loopholes will gut medical research.
It?s crude. It?s Manichaean. And the left loves it. As a matter of math and logic, however, it?s ridiculous. Obama?s most coveted tax hike ? an extra 3 to 4.6 percent for millionaires and billionaires (weirdly defined as individuals making more than $200,000) ? would have reduced last year?s deficit (at the very most) from $1.29 trillion to $1.21 trillion. Nearly a rounding error. The oil-drilling breaks cover less than half a day?s federal spending. You could collect Obama?s favorite tax loophole ? depreciation for corporate jets ? for 100 years and it wouldn?t cover one month of Medicare, whose insolvency is a function of increased longevity, expensive new technology and wasteful defensive medicine caused by an insane malpractice system.
After three years, Obama?s self-proclaimed transformative social policies have yielded a desperately weak economy. What to do? Take the low road: Plutocrats are bleeding the country, and I shall rescue you from them.
