Obama and Clinton: Advocates of the Bush Tax Cuts

Clinton and Obama for Bush

Excerpts:

We thought we'd seen everything in politics, but yesterday was truly miraculous: There in the White House press room was none other than former Democratic President Bill Clinton appearing with current Democratic President Barack Obama to endorse the tax cuts of Republican George W. Bush.

"In my opinion, this is a good bill, and I hope that my fellow Democrats will support it,'' Mr. Clinton said in praise of the Obama-Republican tax deal that would extend the tax rates on capital and upper incomes that passed in 2001 and 2003.

...

Both Democrats have devoted most of their political lives to denouncing such tax cuts—for their injustice, for increasing the deficit, for any other ill you can imagine. But 9.8% unemployment half way through a Democratic President's term tends to discombobulate the partisan mind. So Barack brought in Bill to help persuade a liberal Democratic base that is having a harder time forgetting two generations of anti-rich populism. Or as Mr. Clinton once famously said, "You gotta do what you gotta do."

Comment: Irony of ironies!