Obama's Tax Hikes Aren't a Last Resort, They Were the Plan All Along

In his rather “prickly” press conference on Wednesday, President Obama made it sound as if tax increases (or, to use the Democrats’ language, “cutting spending in the tax code”) were part of a last resort at trimming the deficit as the federal government reaches its $14 trillion debt ceiling. He even referred to “tax breaks for corporate jet owners” (see here for background on the absurdity of that language) as “tough decisions”:

So the bottom line is this: Any agreement to reduce our deficit is going to require tough decisions and balanced solutions. And before we ask our seniors to pay more for health care, before we cut our children’s education, before we sacrifice our commitment to the research and innovation that will help create more jobs in the economy, I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that has done so well to give up a tax break that no other business enjoys.

So, that’s the rhetoric during the debt ceiling debate. The President is the “adult in the room,” prescribing tough medicine for tough times. Right? Well, what did he say before the debt ceiling concerns and before the severity of the recession was clear?

The Daily Caller‘s Mary Katharine Ham put together a series of clips during the election season showing then-Candidate Obama running for the Democratic nomination:

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So don’t let him fool you, the President’s tax hikes are about “spreading the wealth around,” not avoiding a debt crisis.