It's an interesting idea, and politically quite smart to put the Republicans on the defensive regarding tax increases on the wealthy. The public is for it. Make the Republicans show the American people just how extreme they really are. NYT:
President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials.I'm not how this somehow legitimizes cutting Medicare and Medicaid.
With a special joint Congressional committee starting work to reach a bipartisan budget deal by late November, the proposal adds a new and populist feature to Mr. Obama's effort to raise the political pressure on Republicans to agree to higher revenues from the wealthy in return for Democrats' support of future cuts from Medicare and Medicaid.
The Obama proposal has little chance of becoming law unless Republican lawmakers bend. But by focusing on the wealthiest Americans, the president is sharpening the contrast between Republicans and Democrats with a theme he can carry into his bid for re-election in 2012.At least it's a (good) sign that the President is interested in being more confrontational with the Republicans. A necessary evil if he wants to get anything accomplished, and if he wants to get re-elected.
