Obama's answer to Todd was mentioned by The Weekly Standard recently, and it didn't take much hunting to find the video of that interview so you can see Obama say it himself to understand how Obama speaks from both sides of his mouth.
Video below- The question about taxes is posed at the 5:20 minute mark (just use the video scroll bar to go directly to that question and answer):
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Text:
Question from Scott Ferguson via Chuck Todd to Obama: "Explain how raising taxes on anyone during a deep recession is going to help with the economy."
Obama's answer: "First of all, he’s right. Normally, you don’t raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven’t and why we’ve instead cut taxes. So I guess what I’d say to Scott is – his economics are right. You don’t raise taxes in a recession. We haven’t raised taxes in a recession.”
Todd reminded Obama that he had promised to raise taxes on “some of the wealthiest” Americans.
Obama responded by reiterating his opposition to tax hikes during a recession and making an argument about timing. “We have not proposed a tax hike for the wealthy that would take effect in the middle of a recession. Even the proposals that have come out of Congress – which by the way were different from the proposals I put forward – still wouldn’t kick in until after the recession was over. So he’s absolutely right, the last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up – take more demand out of the economy and put business further in a hole.”
Not only did Obama make the very point Republicans are making now that he is arguing against, but Obama also assures Todd that the taxes increases that he was proposing "wouldn't kick in until after the recession is over".
Hot Air reminds people that not only is the country still suffering badly with the economy but what has been done to the economy by Obama hasn't made the situation any better.
A reminder of House Speaker John Boehner's statement this weekend:
"Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes. I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase."
According to another statement sent to USA Today, after meetings conducted after the first statement was issued, Boehner still believes the original smaller deal of cuts to equal the amount of the debt ceiling increase without raising taxes, is still the most viable option:
"The Speaker told the group that he believes a package based on the work of the Biden group is the most viable option at this time for moving forward.
The Speaker restated the fundamental principles that must be met for any increase in the debt limit: spending cuts and reforms that are greater than the amount of the increase, restraints on future spending, and no tax hikes.
The President agreed with the Speaker that their previous talks did not produce any agreement. The group agreed to continue talks in the coming week."
Stick to the smaller deal GOP and let the voters decide in the 2012 elections how they want to proceed from there.
If they remove Barack Obama from the White House, the voters will be speaking loud and clear that they do not want taxes raised but instead want government to get control of themselves and stop spending more money than they have.
If voters do not vote to replace Obama but reelect him instead, they will get exactly what they deserve.
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