Maybe President Obama knows something about voters nobody else ever has. He plans to give a televised speech Wednesday calling for more tax hikes, and thinks this will help him win re-election.
Curious. Coming days before Americans pay their annual government tribute, Obama's willingness to tempt the misery index is either brilliant or crazy.
I lean toward crazy, in the sense that the president is so convinced of his own righteousness and talent that he thinks he can sell snow to Eskimos. Most people will say, "No, thanks" and "No sale."
We can be sure his pitch will have two angles. No. 1 is class warfare, as he will insist that raising income taxes on upper-income Americans is all about their paying a "fair share."
Angle No. 2 is that he'll wrap tax hikes in the fig leaf of debt reduction, to show he's really, really serious about cutting up America's credit card.
There are credibility problems with both angles, starting with the fact that 47 percent of Americans don't pay federal income taxes. What's fair about that?
And the idea that Obama is serious about debt reduction doesn't pass the smell test. Historically, he's the king of debt, and he's forced to pretend otherwise only because the last election showed that's what the country wants.
He already offered a budget that ducked the issue, and now's he reoffering it because House Republicans put forward a bold plan to cut discretionary spending and reform Medicare and Medicaid. In short, Obama's not really a centrist or a deficit cutter. He just occasionally plays one on TV.
Michael Goodwin is a Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist. To continue reading his column on other topics, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, click here.
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