Speaking at the University of Delaware this month, Obama’s senior adviser David Plouffe pitched a plan we’ve all heard before . . . from the mouth of Mitt Romney.
With the fiscal cliff inching closer and closer, negotiations are “going to get hairy,” Plouffe said. Predictably, he called for Republicans to raise taxes. But here’s Plouffe’s surprising idea for what Dems need to do to reach a deal:
The senior White House adviser repeated Obama’s opposition to extending the Bush tax cuts on those earning more than $250,000 a year, but expressed openness to a tax reform deal that could potentially lower what the wealthy pay.
“What we also want to do is engage in a process of tax reform that would ultimately produce lower rates, even potentially for the wealthiest,” he said.
Plouffe added that while the White House wants to engage in comprehensive tax reform, they know they must also “carefully” address the “chief drivers of our deficit”: Medicare and Medicaid.
Remember when Mitt Romney was pushing for Medicare and Medicaid reform and calling for an across-the-board, 20 percent tax cut?
Back then, Obama portrayed it as a sneaky trick to prop up Romney’s country-club buddies at the expense of the middle and lower classes. Less than a month later, it’s a feat of bipartisanship.