The Times: They're Not Changing

It meant that he might change his mind after getting into the White House.
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When I was in high school, I heard a great many people who were outraged at the elder George Bush’s reneging on his promise to not raise taxes. “Read my lips: no new taxes!” was his infamous line which he used to grab the voters’ attention during the campaign. He later changed his mind and signed a tax increase.

Then came Bill Clinton, who did the same thing, although it wasn’t as dramatic. He wasn’t going to raise taxes on the middle class while he was a candidate, but after he got into the White House, he informed the American people that he made a mistake with his calculations and had no choice but to raise taxes.

What bothered me even more than seeing taxes increase was seeing the same people who hated the elder Bush for having lied suddenly sympathize with and forgive Clinton for his “miscalculation.” Raising taxes has to happen, they reasoned—even though they were the same ones who previously wanted the elder Bush to be strung up by his toenails for having done the same thing.

Now it turns out that Barack Obama is taking a cue from both aforementioned presidents and is considering his own middle class tax hike to pay for his healthcare plan. This idea is the very same plan that John McCain pushed for throughout his campaign. It’s the same plan that Mr. Obama referred to as a plan that we “can’t afford.” McCain’s plan, said Mr. Obama, would “cost your family thousands.”

AP reporter Philip Elliott reports:

There’s no doubt that Obama’s minions will quickly defend his proposal because they’ll view it as being something which is in the best interest of the nation—the same way that Clinton did it and the same way that the elder Bush did it.

We live in a country where the constituents can be handed a bag full of horse-shit and they’ll view it as “good” or “bad” simply because it has the letters R or D drawn on the bag. They’re not really interested in what is inside the bag.

Changing that mentality is the real change that this country needs.

ReferenceElliott, Philip. “White House Open to New Tax on Health Benefits.” AP/Google News. 29 June 2009.

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