Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (521647)	1/9/2004 1:26:45 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769667

BUSH LITE LITE: For more than a year, Democratic presidential candidates trying to preserve their general-election viability have favored keeping the middle-class portions of the Bush tax cut and rescinding only the (much larger) parts that benefit the rich. And for more than a year, Dean has been skewering them as "Bush lite," pathetic traitors to the Democratic Party. Well, well, well. Apparently Dean now realizes that maybe running on a platform of middle-class tax hikes wouldn't be such a smart idea after all. As Wednesday's Boston Globe reports: After months of touting his plan to repeal all of President Bush's tax cut, former Vermont governor Howard Dean is moving toward embracing a tax relief package for middle-income Americans, which would amount to a major revamping of a centerpiece of his Democratic presidential campaign. Dean's action comes after his team of economic advisers privately gave him a "unanimous" recommendation to back a middle-income tax cut to offset the increases that would come with repealing Bush's plan, a top campaign official said. The economic team has been especially concerned that Dean's proposed repeal of the Bush cuts has enabled critics to accuse him of supporting what amounts to a $2,000 tax increase on families earning between $73,000 and $145,000. Some advisers worried that stance could be politically fatal in the general election if Dean is the Democratic nominee. So, having pocketed the gains from demagoguing his opponents, Dean can now make the same calculation they did. Now he will be able to tell middle-class voters they'll come out even under his plan. Will it work in the general election? Almost certainly not. I wrote earlier that, on taxes, Democrats inherently have less credibility than Republicans with the voters. The same is true of Republicans and the environment. Suppose Bush came out with a plan to chop down a million acres of national forests. After an outcry, he later amended his plan by promising to grow an additional million acres elsewhere, leading to no new loss. Would that mollify centrist voters concerned about the environment? Of course not. Dean's plan of canceling tax cuts for the middle class and replacing them with new ones will be no more politically credible. To be sure, some segment of the voters will distrust Democrats on taxes no matter what. But Bill Clinton showed that running on middle-class tax cuts can at least neutralize the issue--polls showed that voters didn't believe Clinton would cut their taxes, but the promise of tax cuts made them think that at least he wouldn't raise them. The smart thing for Democrats in '04 is to promise to keep middle-class tax cuts in place. The smarter thing is to promise (as Edwards and Clark have) to do that and to provide new middle-class cuts, paid for by increases on the rich. Now, as a matter of pure substance there's something to be said for rescinding all the Bush tax cuts. The government needs the revenue. But Dean seems ready to forfeit the substantive benefits of his position while still dragging along a huge political liability into the general election. It is, however, a great strategy for winning the primary.