The Real Obama--or His Evil Twin, Skippy?

Pres. Obama outfoxed Hillary Clinton on his way to the Democrat nomination for president by pandering to the left wing of the party with red-meat platform that was part populist, part socialist. He then trounced his Republican opponent John McCain by tacking back to the center to attract moderate Republicans and independents to his campaign.

One of candidate Obama’s pitches to seduce moderates and take the political center away from Sen. McCain was a proposal to eliminate the 14% capital gains tax for small and start-up businesses. Small business was the sacred cow of this campaign, with both candidates falling over themselves to appeal to our nation of shopkeepers.

The proposal itself was modest, but it was a good symbol to demonstrate that the Democrats would help the job-creation generator that is small business. It was a simple, less costly way to attack the growing unemployment problem. After all, small businesses create three-quarters of the jobs in this country.

But instead, candidate Obama’s plan to eliminate the small business tax was emasculated to a 50% reduction instead in what the Wall Street Journal has called the Democrat's "self-stimulus" bill that the President is to sign today .

So who’s to blame? Certainly not the Republicans whose playbook for stimulus is cutting taxes.

The villain here is the Democrats who own Congress now and who detest tax cuts on ideological grounds. This is because Republicans like George Bush and Ronald Reagan (not to mention Democrat patron saint John F. Kennedy) were able to create millions of jobs and lift the country out of past recessions by cutting taxes and putting money immediately into the hands of the middle class.

Unfortunately, the Democrats continue to view taxes as divine retribution to business for making profits. And this crew led by Nancy Pelosi wastes no chance to try and punish business with a messianic fervor. So small business becomes the scapegoat for past conservative economic successes.

While the problem may be House Democrats, Pres. Obama is far from blameless here. He could have sent a strong message to middle class America and his party that the first “post-partisan” president won’t tolerate fighting ideological battles where the losers are the American people. Unfortunately, he chose not to do so.

So we’re left to wonder if the President is really the post-partisan centrist that millions of Americans thought they were electing. Or, is he really the left-leaning candidate who campaigned on using the tax code to punish success and redistribute wealth?

After 3 weeks in the White House he hasn’t done much to burnish those post-partisan credentials.

Just thought you might like to know.