Obama Changes Tax Plan

I'm guessing Joe the Plumber and McCain's criticism of Obama's "spread the wealth around" tax plan has had some effect on the Obama campaign. In a blog post on the ABC News web site October 21, Teddy Davis, Hope Ditto, Arnab Datta and Ferdous Alfaruque reported that Barack Obama has now added a work requirement to one of his campaign proposals.

The move was an effort to counter John McCain's criticism of the Obama tax plan as a form of welfare. ABC News quotes Obama adviser Austan Goolsbee as saying, "So, just so they would absolutely not be able to say that, we decided that for the last two percent we'll simply add a work requirement."

So changing the plan to counter McCain's criticism is an implicit recognition of the validity of McCain's claim, right? I mean, seriously, if Obama's tax plan did not amount to a form of welfare, there would be no need to make a change to counter the charge. The ABC News report says, "Although the number of non-working beneficiaries would have been just a 'sliver' under the original understanding of Obama's plan, Goolsbee said the Democratic nominee's economic team decided to add a work requirement to it in order to block McCain from being able to characterize any aspect of his plan as 'welfare.'"

According to ABC News, the new work requirement was not announced publicly but instead came out during a debate between the campaigns' economic advisers at the Council on Foreign Relations. McCain's economic adviser is quoted as saying, "I think they just made it up. They will say anything in the moment. This is like trying to pin Jello to the wall." I love that line. It's a perfect description of how Obama's policies are constantly shifting to fit a particular situation.

The ABC News story says Goolsbee was not sure when Obama's economic advisers decided to make the change: "He said it's possible that it did not take place until a week ago when McCain started hammering Obama on the issue. Goolsbee said it was also possible that it happened earlier since some conservative columnists were criticizing Obama on this point before the Republican nominee started making the line of attack himself."

One other point. Goolsbee said "Our thing has never been welfare. It was always our intention that there was a work requirement." Really? Then why wasn't it in the plan all along? If that was the intent, shouldn't it have been incorporated into the proposal from the beginning?

Goolsbee also took a shot at McCain, saying his health plan tax credit is not tied to work. No kidding. It's tied to health care. The credit is applicable if you buy a health care plan. Period. He's mixing apples and oranges.