Something Else for the Nutroots to Flip Out Over: Obama May Delay Tax Increase

The seething class warriors on the left will be apoplectic with rage by the time Coronation Day rolls around in two months. Strike that, they're already consumed by rage 24/7. This will just continue their perpetual misery.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is considering delaying his proposal to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in light of the economic downturn, two aides said on Sunday.

Bill Daley, an adviser to Obama and commerce secretary under former President Bill Clinton, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it “looks more likely than not” that President Obama will delay any tax increase until after 2010, when the Bush cuts for those making more than $250,000 are due to expire.

Mr. Daley was reacting to a report in Sunday’s New York Times that said Mr. Obama was considering putting off the tax increases to give his ambitious economic stimulus proposals a chance to work, quoting several people familiar with the discussions. On Saturday, Mr. Obama announced that he had instructed his advisers to prepare a two-year stimulus package with the goal of saving or creating 2.5 million jobs.

Or this could just be blowing smoke in an attempt to limit the Wall Street meltdown. A firm "no new taxes" pledge would help, but hey, those promises can always be broken, and I'd hedge a bet if Obama broke such a pledge he wouldn't suffer the widespread condemnation suffered by Bush 41.