“Change”: Lies and Class Warfare

During last night’s press conference, Barack Obama lifted our hopes with his soaring oratory. . . . Not really. Actually he engaged in tired old liberal Democrat tactics – lies and class warfare. But did the sycophantic press hold him accountable for that? Of course, not.

But I will.

First the lie, and it is a whopper:

As I said, the one concern I’ve got on the stimulus package, in terms of the debate and listening to some of what’s been said in Congress is that there seems to be a set of folks who — I don’t doubt their sincerity — who just believe that we should do nothing. Now, if that’s their opening position or their closing position in negotiations, then we’re probably not going to make much progress, because I don’t think that’s economically sound and I don’t think what — that’s what the American people expect, is for us to stand by and do nothing.

That’s a line Obama has been using lately, that his opponents want to “do nothing.” The thing is, unless he has imaginary opponents like children have imaginary friends, it’s a big lie. I’ve followed the stimulus debate closely, and I can’t remember anyone suggesting we do nothing. And Republicans in Congress have offered alternative stimulus plans. Obama is either deluded here, or, more likely, he is choosing to tell a big lie again and again.

Then there’s the class warfare rhetoric. In the midst of saying “working” and “middle class” as many times as he can, he throws in this tired line:

But as we've learned very clearly and conclusively over the last eight years, tax cuts alone can't solve all of our economic problems -- especially tax cuts that are targeted to the wealthiest few Americans.

That’s a tired old demagogic bogey man. Agree with them or not (I very much agree with them.), the Bush tax cuts were across the board.

What Obama advocates is targeting success in a negative way, that if your income is above a certain level, you not only should pay more taxes (which is most certainly the case even under the Bush tax cuts), but an even greater percentage of your income in taxes. You should pay, say, 40% rather than 28%. Obama and his allies are the ones really targeting “the rich”. But in Obama’s world, if one disagrees with him and thinks success shouldn’t be punished with higher tax percentage rates, you’re favoring the eeeeevil rich, “the wealthiest few Americans.” For in Obama’s class warfare tax math, punishing success = “fairness”.

So Obama is playing by the old Demagogue Democrat Party playbook of class warfare and big lies.

Some “change”.


MORE: Here’s a more detailed (and admittedly less heated) critique of Obama’s deceptive and divisive rhetoric. But the conclusion is similar – Obama’s attacks on straw men last night is the same old same old.