Taco John
10-16-2008, 12:48 PM
Obama, The Friendly Socialist?
16 Oct 2008 07:36 am
Republican and conservative readers tend to send me one of four types of e-mails these days.
(1) This column is getting too pro-Obama because I'm a closet liberal and member of Obama's amen chorus....... Pro-Obama is defined herein as having the desire to write critically about Sen. McCain and jumping into the tank for Obama.
(2) This column is getting too pro-Obama, but hey, he's over 50 in the national polls and Sen. McCain is running a lackluster campaign, and if one campaign is outhustling another, if one campaign is distorting stuff more, then you've got to call 'em as you seem 'em, even if some of your readers are going to complain.
(3) E-mails saying that, despite the mood of the national electorate, this column has been fair.
(4) E-mails wondering why I'm not covering such-and-such a comment by Obama.
One correspondent wondered why I hadn't posted anything on Barack Obama's admission that he's a socialist. That he, in the words of the Republican, "wants to take money and "spread the wealth around?"
Hadn't heard that, I said.
At this juncture the Republican IM'd me a link to Fox and Friends discussing the incident, which is kind of like a Democrat e-mailing me a link to Countdown and hoping that I wouldn't look up the context either.
Anyway, Fox and Friends's Steve Doocy tossed to a sound bite featuring Barack Obama chatting with a man identified as a plumber -- who last night jumped into our consciousness as "Joe The Plumber" -- who had asked the candidate whether his new tax plan "is gonna tax people."
Obama responds: "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everyone who is beyond you has a chance at success too."
Then the video jumps a bit.
Obama: "I think that, when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
The Fox director cuts back to Doocey: "Did ya hear that last part... Spread the wealth around.."
Ok -- so did Obama just admit that he wanted to redistribute wealth? Did he speak in socialist code?
Here's the context from the pool report from Fox's (excellent) producer on the ground, Bonney Kapp.
Turns out that the second sound bite -- the spread the wealth around part -- comes later in the conversation, when the plumber said that it seemed like Obama would support a flat tax.
We can wade into Obama's answer in midstream. First he discusses a technical point about the flat tax. Then he says:
"And I do believe for folks like me who have worked hard, but frankly also been lucky, I don'’t mind paying just a little bit more than the waitress that I just met over there who'’s things are slow and she can barely make the rent. Because my attitude is that if the economy’'s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody."
"If you've got a plumbing business, you're going to be better off it you've got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now I think everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody. "
He's simply restating support for a progressive income tax, not making a larger statement about the economy.
True -- Joe The Plumber didn't like the answer. He said Obama tap-danced more than Sammy Davis, Jr.
But it's misleading to suggest that Obama was revealing his secret socialism here.
16 Oct 2008 07:36 am
Republican and conservative readers tend to send me one of four types of e-mails these days.
(1) This column is getting too pro-Obama because I'm a closet liberal and member of Obama's amen chorus....... Pro-Obama is defined herein as having the desire to write critically about Sen. McCain and jumping into the tank for Obama.
(2) This column is getting too pro-Obama, but hey, he's over 50 in the national polls and Sen. McCain is running a lackluster campaign, and if one campaign is outhustling another, if one campaign is distorting stuff more, then you've got to call 'em as you seem 'em, even if some of your readers are going to complain.
(3) E-mails saying that, despite the mood of the national electorate, this column has been fair.
(4) E-mails wondering why I'm not covering such-and-such a comment by Obama.
One correspondent wondered why I hadn't posted anything on Barack Obama's admission that he's a socialist. That he, in the words of the Republican, "wants to take money and "spread the wealth around?"
Hadn't heard that, I said.
At this juncture the Republican IM'd me a link to Fox and Friends discussing the incident, which is kind of like a Democrat e-mailing me a link to Countdown and hoping that I wouldn't look up the context either.
Anyway, Fox and Friends's Steve Doocy tossed to a sound bite featuring Barack Obama chatting with a man identified as a plumber -- who last night jumped into our consciousness as "Joe The Plumber" -- who had asked the candidate whether his new tax plan "is gonna tax people."
Obama responds: "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everyone who is beyond you has a chance at success too."
Then the video jumps a bit.
Obama: "I think that, when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
The Fox director cuts back to Doocey: "Did ya hear that last part... Spread the wealth around.."
Ok -- so did Obama just admit that he wanted to redistribute wealth? Did he speak in socialist code?
Here's the context from the pool report from Fox's (excellent) producer on the ground, Bonney Kapp.
Turns out that the second sound bite -- the spread the wealth around part -- comes later in the conversation, when the plumber said that it seemed like Obama would support a flat tax.
We can wade into Obama's answer in midstream. First he discusses a technical point about the flat tax. Then he says:
"And I do believe for folks like me who have worked hard, but frankly also been lucky, I don'’t mind paying just a little bit more than the waitress that I just met over there who'’s things are slow and she can barely make the rent. Because my attitude is that if the economy’'s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody."
"If you've got a plumbing business, you're going to be better off it you've got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now I think everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody. "
He's simply restating support for a progressive income tax, not making a larger statement about the economy.
True -- Joe The Plumber didn't like the answer. He said Obama tap-danced more than Sammy Davis, Jr.
But it's misleading to suggest that Obama was revealing his secret socialism here.