After President Obama’s morning rose garden address news outlets across the nation have been reporting on if the tax plans are favorable, if it will benefit the economy. Why opinions differ on whether this tax plan is a positive or a negative. What is agreed on is that this measure doesn’t stand a chance of passing the Republican controlled house, and that may be fine with Obama.
While the newly remodeled Republican house will most likely draft their own tax relief bill for everyone including the wealthiest Americans, but, it probably won’t be as popular as Obama’s plan. There is evidence to support that a vast majority of Americans approve of extending tax cuts, and according to a recent poll conducted by Gallup 62% of Americans think that “higher income” Americans are not paying their “fair share”. Republicans supporting an extension of the Bush era tax breaks across all income levels is being perceived as a fight for the wealthiest Americans while dismissing the middle class. This political image is an easy to paint but much more difficult to repair.
Taking up the tax debate again is going to be an effective move for Obama whether he plays it as an offensive measure, defensively or a bit of both. Most notably is that this discussion has distracted the media from rather disappointing job numbers, in fact Obama’s job approval hasn’t shifted despite this news. All of the tax talk though puts the GOP in a rather tough predicament they can deny the president’s plan of lowering taxes to working class Americans or back this plan (which isn’t going to happen). Rejecting a tax break for the middle class is only going to increase the perception that Republicans only protect the wealthiest in the nation, something that will be hit upon hard in the campaign cycle. This paired with Obama Ads attacking Mitt Romney’s refusal to release additional tax information, Bain involvement and the media’s reporting on his lavish family vacations has made this a well executed offense move by the Obama campaign.
