Maybe I missed it, but I sure don't recall President Obama running for re-election on a platform of a $1.6 trillion tax increase. I remember him saying something about "asking" the wealthy to pay "a little more." You'd think that maybe Mitt Romney might have made an issue of it, as in, "My opponent wants to raise taxes by $1.6 trillion. I think Americans already pay plenty of taxes." Or as in, "Gee, Mr. President, you talk about 'asking' the wealthy to pay 'a little more.' How much money exactly do you mean by 'a little more,' and what happens if when you 'ask' they say, 'no thank you'?" It would have been nice to have this discussion before the election in the terms that the president is now all too happy to be explicitly clear about.
Update: In his press conference today, Mr. Obama said of his tax increase position, "This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone." He also used the "little bit" formulation to describe the tax increase.
The $1.6 trillion is over 10 years.
