President Barack Obama constantly resorts to this tactic because he's simply unable to defend his own record in office, as 23 million Americans are out of work or underemployed and the economy remains in distress.
Class warfare is all he has left.
But voters aren't buying Obama's polarizing rhetoric. In a Gallup survey about the 12 most important priorities this election year, the issue of "increasing taxes on wealthy Americans" came in dead last among voters. Understandably, Americans are far more concerned with issues such as "creating good jobs," "reducing corruption in the federal government" and "reducing the federal budget deficit," among other important priorities.
Nonetheless, Obama relentlessly attacks Mitt Romney's prosperity, as if being a successful businessman -- who takes financial risks and creates jobs -- were an automatic disqualifier for anyone running for the nation's highest office.
During the second presidential debate last week, Obama hammered Romney for his financial success and played the class warfare card:
--"I don't look at my pension. It's not as big as yours, so it doesn't take as long." (In fact, Obama has a larger pension than Romney.)
--Obama attacked Romney's "$20-million-a-year" income. (Romney actually made $13.7 million in 2011 and gave nearly 30 percent of his income to charity.)
--He also accused Romney of shielding the wealthy from paying "a little bit more" in taxes.
--He stated: "I believe in self-reliance and individual initiative and risk takers being rewarded. But I also believe that everybody should have a fair shot and everybody should do their fair share and everybody should play by the same rules, because that's how our economy's grown."
Obama claims to support free enterprise, self-reliance and individual initiative, but his actions say otherwise. He has forced on America a federal takeover of health care, increased oppressive regulation of private business and sustained massive government spending, and he has expanded our nation's welfare rolls by 32 percent. He even attacks corporations while accepting campaign funds from the same ventures he condemns. (Ironically, Obama has accepted nearly $120,000 from Bain Capital executives, is the top recipient of funds from BP, has investments in Chinese companies and through a Cayman Islands trust, and staffed his own Cabinet with wealthy CEOs.)
In 2008, Obama famously told Joe the Plumber of his plans to confiscate money from small businesses: "It's not that I want to punish your success; I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you -- that they've got a chance at success, too. ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
In 2010, he arrogantly remarked, "I do think at a certain point, you've made enough money."
In July, Obama attacked business again, saying, "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." (As I explained in an earlier column, that "somebody" to whom Obama referred was in fact the federal government.)
In other acts of class warfare, the president embraced the anarchist Occupy movement, pitted labor unions that heavily fund his campaign against the private sector and blatantly condemned capitalism.
Meanwhile, Obama likes to say his tax increases would affect only "millionaires" and "billionaires," but the actual hikes would hit couples with incomes of $250,000 or higher.
The president claims to want to raise taxes on the rich, but he'd be raising taxes on many of our nation's job producers. He's using his class warfare rhetoric to fool voters.
What do business-savvy employers do when burdened by crushing tax hikes? They look for options to reduce their taxable income.
Facing the increased cost burden of Obamacare, businesses are looking for ways to avoid dealing with the soaring costs associated with the president's health care takeover -- including potential layoffs and slashing employee hours.
Obamacare is the very definition of a class warfare ploy because it drains the lifeblood from America's producers to subsidize the uninsured. Though "free" insurance may sound like a good idea in theory, increasing the burden on companies will force them to cut employees and their benefits to stay in business.
When businesses shed employees, revenue collected by federal and state governments as payroll taxes declines, as well. That's a lose-lose situation for our nation. The best way to get Americans back to work is to grow our economy and reduce tax burdens on our nation's job creators.
When it comes to raising taxes and increasing regulations, there's no limit to what Washington will impose. Where does it end?
What exactly does Obama consider "fair"?
Obama wants you to believe that big government is good, that profit is evil and that "spreading the wealth" improves the lives of all Americans.
He wants you to believe he would help the middle class by promoting job creation and boosting the economy -- but he has failed to do so in the past four years. And now he's desperate.
Americans are tired of being pitted against one another by this administration. What they really want are jobs, a robust economy and a true leader who won't resort to class warfare in an effort to distract voters and divide our great nation.
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