Reporter Strategizes With Jay Carney at White House Briefing

    At the White House briefing on Monday, an unidentified reporter (pictured on right) asked Jay Carney about the payroll tax holiday, now "back on the table," and how that might impact the White House's current My2K campaign to pressure Congress into passing President Obama's version of the Bush Tax Cuts extension.  Here is the transcript (the exchange begins on the video around 40:13):

Q    Okay.  Second of all, I saw that the Obama administration has put the payroll tax cut extension back on the table in its proposal.  I know that the White House is doing these “my2K” hashtag tweets to engage the public --
MR. CARNEY:  You say that like it’s just the kids.  (Laughter.)
Q    -- but to engage the public in getting involved in the middle-class tax cut.  So why wouldn’t you change it to “my3K” now that you’re putting the payroll tax cut back in it?
MR. CARNEY:  Well, that's a very good question.  And I appreciate the contribution to our communications thinking.  (Laughter.)  The fact of the matter is we have been very clear that we believe unemployment insurance has to be extended, and we believe that all of the provisions that are expiring at the end of the year need to be part of the conversation here and part of the discussion.  And we are interested in payroll tax cut being very much part of that discussion...
Q    What about the hashtag?
MR. CARNEY:  Well, I’ll bring that up in our next communications meeting.
Roger.

    The partial tongue-in-cheek nature of the exchange obscures the larger issue.  For weeks now, the Obama administration's narrative has been that if Congress would pass President Obama's tax cut extension, "it means that 98 percent of all Americans, and 97 percent of all small businesses won’t see their taxes go up a single dime." As a matter of fact, the White House has forcefully pushed the idea that the average family will save about $2,000 under the president's plan.  All the while, the expiration of the payroll tax holiday, which takes effect the same date (January 1st) as the Bush Tax Cuts expiration, has been largely ignored by the White House, along with its $1,000 tax increase on the same average Americans that the White House has targeted for its misleading My2K campaign.

    The reporter should have called out the White House and President Obama for the deception and suggested that the campaign should have more accurately been called "My1K".  Instead, she coyly suggested now that the White House is considering extending the payroll tax cut too, it should make sure to publicize that fact by switching from "My2K" to "My3K" and tout a $3,000 "savings" instead of $2,000.  The lack of interest in pointing out such a clear contradiction is astounding.  In this case, the "adversarial press" took a back seat to the "advisory press."  If the Republicans are going to hold the president accountable for this hypocrisy, they are on their own.

A Ruse By Any Other Name Stinks Just As Badly

    When it comes to recycling, the Obama campaign takes a back seat to no one.  Today, the folks at @BarackObama are trying to breath new life into the "President's plan" to save middle-class taxpayers $2,200 next year with this tweet:

The plan, of course, is to renew the Bush tax cuts again at the end of 2012, but only for the deserving 97%-98%.  But, also of course, no one is talking about letting those tax rates expire anyway - the only debate is about whether to raise the rates on the 2%-3% "rich" so they can once again pay their fair share (which, of course, will only be "fair" until the next time the Democrats want to raise their rates, at which point they suddenly will not be paying their fair share anymore.)
    The only sense in which the middle class will "save" anything in 2013 is the same sense in which politicians routinely claim to "save" money by increasing spending by less than what was planned.  As I wrote last time, the only answers the president should have received via Twitter should read: "I will spend the $2,200 on the same expenses I used it for in 2012 because my taxes are not being reduced."  It's fraud, pure and simple.  The responses to the president's tweets (#2200dollars) routinely show that often his supporters are under the impression this $2,200 is new, sometimes simply from lack of clarity, sometimes because of outright deception.  With the addition of Paul Ryan to the Romney ticket, panic is beginning to set in at the Obama camp.  No doubt as the election draws nearer, the ruses will only increase.

When is Not-a-Tax-Cut a Tax Cut? When It's President Obama's!

    On July 9th, President Obama made the following statement regarding the much-discussed Bush tax cuts:

[M]ost people agree that we should not raise taxes on middle-class families or small businesses -- not when so many folks are just trying to get by... And that’s why I’m calling on Congress to extend the tax cuts for the 98 percent of Americans who make less than $250,000 for another year...  If Congress doesn’t do this, millions of American families... could see their taxes go up by $2,200 starting on January 1st of next year. 

The statement was repeated on the White House blog later that day, and now appears dozens of times on the website and continues to pop up in Obama's speeches as well.  Today, continuing a pattern I have noted before, the Obama campaign extracted a dollar figure from a policy proposal (what $40 means, $1,000 increase on student loans) and began to reshape and distort it to maximize its impact without regard for honesty:

Use the hashtag #2200dollars to share how the President’s middle-class tax cut would help your family next year.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 2, 2012

Note the wording: "the President’s middle-class tax cut".  This is the same administration that has balked at referring to the current rates as "the Bush tax cuts," and now has appropriated that label for the President himself.  And it's not even a new cut, simply a continuation of current tax policy.  The only answers the president should have received via Twitter should read: "I will spend the $2,200 on the same expenses I used it for in 2012 because my taxes are not being cut."  However, the president's followers on Twitter were much more creative in their replies:

@barackobama a #2200dollars would help my fiancé and myself get married (something we've been saving for a year and a half)
— Kristopher Wazaney (@therealwuz) August 2, 2012

@barackobama#2200dollars is a house payment, a car payment and groceries and a couple of relaxing weekends out!
— BobbiKing (@BobbiKing) August 2, 2012

#2200dollars can help me start my daughters college fund.
— Edwin Gomez (@ego_32) August 2, 2012

@barackobama #2200dollars could help my parents pay for the three kids they are helping to put through college!
— Abby Cowan (@abbencowey) August 2, 2012

Was the creativity of the tweeters just an effort to make the president look good?  Or do these people, based on the president's own words, believe they've got a new $2,200 windfall headed their way in 2013?  One could hardly blame them for believing the latter.  But if they manage to get him reelected, it'll be too late in 2013 when Net Pay on their paychecks stays the same.  Unless the Social Security tax holiday is allowed to expire and Net Pay actually gets lower.  The president has been silent about that tax matter.  Could it be that the Social Security tax holiday issue is being reserved by the Democrats as a homemade October Surprise issue?  If so, look for a repeat of the pattern I detailed above.  Who knows, maybe they'll even resurrect What $40 Means.

Update:  Thanks to Ed Morrissey (Obamateurism of the Day on 8/8/12)