Aug 03 2009
White House denies rumors of middle class tax hike
President Barack Obama’s campaign promise to not raise taxes on the middle class has garnered a lot of critics, but some of the recent criticism of the policy has been coming from figures that you wouldn’t expect.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers appeared on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sunday and raised the possibility of Obama tapping into middle-class Americans’ income to reduce the federal budget deficit or help pay for the impending health insurance overhaul.
“There is a lot that can happen over time,” Summers said, adding “it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what.”
Geithner also appeared hesitant to close any possible doors in the future.
“If we want an economy that’s going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it’s going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform,” Geithner said. “We’re not at the point yet where we’re going to make a judgment about what it’s going to take.”
The statements forced Obama to put his foot down on the rumors.
“I’m going to deal with this and I’ll do this one more time,” said Gibbs after several questions from reporters about the mixed signals coming out of the Obama administration. “The president was clear. He made a commitment in the campaign. That commitment stands.”
Regardless of whether the President intends to hold his campaign promise or not, the situation does bring light to a disturbing trend in Barack Obama’s administration.
The verbal standoff between Obama and Geithner isn’t the only example of members of Obama’s party and administration straying off message. In the recent weeks the United States has drawn international criticism from several countries including Russia for sending mixed signals. In-party bickering has also been a major issue as legislators work to create a new health care overhaul bill. If Obama and the democrats plan to make good on their ambitious platform then they need to work a lot harder to get together on message.
