Tuesday, February 17, 2009

It'll have to be national security: GOP may not win tax issue in 2012

A nugget.

Don't know if anybody has yet noticed in the Republican Party but President Obama was presented last week a major talking point for 2012.

He'll sign today one of the largest tax cuts in history.

In spite of the White House pointing this out to journalists, it is funny how little remarked-upon this is.

It's hard imagine we won't hear about this four years from now. And if that's not boxing a future Republican candidate in ahead of time, I don't know what is.

Caveat: Republicans can just argue they wanted bigger cuts, right? Sure, except for this hitch. If the economy's recovered, Obama can argue he struck the perfect balance.

Remember Bob Dole's nominating speech in 1996? The "We can do better" theme? How'd that turn out for President Dole? When things are going well, it's tough selling "Things could be even better".

It's like snagging Katherine Heigl for a girlfriend, and then getting an offer from Megan Fox. Tempting, yeah, but ultimately you stick with Katherine Heigl.