Is this what he meant by change?
When Senator and former presidential contender John McCain proposed taxing health benefits, then candidate Obama minced no words when voicing his opposition.
Last September, while speaking in Dover, Delaware candidate Obama said, “… I can make a firm pledge: under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. My opponent can’t make that pledge, and here’s why: for the first time in American history, he wants to tax your health benefits Apparently, Senator McCain doesn’t think it’s enough that your health premiums have doubled, he thinks you should have to pay taxes on them too. That’s a $3.6 trillion tax increase on middle class families. That will eventually leave tens of millions of you paying higher taxes. That’s his idea of change.”
Then, in March, President Obama took a different tone altogether. Ceci Connolly, Washington Post writer, reported the following on June 3, 2009. “President Obama, in a pivot from some of his harshest campaign rhetoric, told Democratic senators yesterday that he is willing to consider taxing employer-sponsored health benefits to help pay for a broad expansion of coverage.”
Today, Bloomberg.com reports, “Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled a plan to overhaul the health-care system that would mandate insurance for almost all Americans, impose a tax on health insurers and possibly cut the federal deficit. According to a “very preliminary” estimate by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, Baucus’s proposal would raise $259 billion in taxes, mostly from imposing a 35 percent excise tax on insurers that offer health plans valued at more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for couples.”
That’s the ticket – tax the insurance companies. I’m sure they’ll just eat that loss, surely they won’t pass the cost along to the customers. Liberals, I have a news flash for you. Individuals pay ALL taxes, whether directly or indirectly. I’d say Obama has the change part of his slogan covered. He changed his tax policy on heath benefits 180 degrees. It’s the hope part he still needs to work on.
At least he can continue to claim transparency. This scam is visible from a mile away.
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Mike,
What a hard hitting piece this is! It cannot be denied, and it cannot be decried as “racist” because it stands on the facts.
I have written like this before, but didn’t publish it because I felt it only played into the “angry, rightwing, racist” thing. Kudos for having the courage to say it when I didn’t.
I think that this example will be used to create a collaborative that takes up were this starts, because surely there are numerous other examples of how the statist will say one thing to get elected, and once they win, they are saying and doing things that contradict what was said before. If you are able to contact me, I hope you will.
“NoTingles” also from the occupied territory once fondly called North Carolina.