Barking Up the Wrong Tree

There’s an old cartoon that showed an owner fussing at his dog: “Bad dog, Rover. Don’t ever do that again, Rover. You know better, Rover. Bad dog, Rover.”
 
Then the cartoon showed what the dog was hearing: “Blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, Rover.”
 
I’m afraid that’s all the voters are hearing from the Washington debate over extending George Bush’s tax cuts: Democrats saying “taxes.”
 
And I’ve seen this cartoon before, too. It doesn’t end well for Democrats.
 
Going back to Reagan days, Democrats have argue that they’ll raise taxes only on the wealthy – not the middle class. But the nuance always gets lost.
 
Maybe President Obama can pull it off this time. It’s an article of faith inside his circle that he made the right decision in 2008 by opposing a proposed gas-tax cut. Voters admired him for doing the right thing instead of the political thing, his advisers believe.
 
But the strategy sounds flea-bitten to me.
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Gary Pearce

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Barking Up the Wrong Tree

There’s an old cartoon that showed an owner fussing at his dog: “Bad dog, Rover. Don’t ever do that again, Rover. You know better, Rover. Bad dog, Rover.”
 
Then the cartoon showed what the dog was hearing: “Blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, Rover.”
 
I’m afraid that’s all the voters are hearing from the Washington debate over extending George Bush’s tax cuts: Democrats saying “taxes.”
 
And I’ve seen this cartoon before, too. It doesn’t end well for Democrats.
 
Going back to Reagan days, Democrats have argue that they’ll raise taxes only on the wealthy – not the middle class. But the nuance always gets lost.
 
Maybe President Obama can pull it off this time. It’s an article of faith inside his circle that he made the right decision in 2008 by opposing a proposed gas-tax cut. Voters admired him for doing the right thing instead of the political thing, his advisers believe.
 
But the strategy sounds flea-bitten to me.
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Gary Pearce

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