I think my first request to Obama through Change.gov would be to answer direct questions put to him at press conferences with a direct answer. Don't get me wrong - I voted for him, support him, all that stuff. But the last question asked at today's press conference got an answer worthy of Karl Rove answering a subpoena. Read it closely, and you'll see that Obama's answer doesn't come within miles of the question:
Q Mr. President-elect, do you still intend to seek income tax increases for upper-income Americans? And if so, should these Americans expect to pay higher taxes in 2009?
Mr. OBAMA: The -- my tax plan represented a net tax cut. It provided for substantial middle-class tax cuts. Ninety-five percent of working Americans would receive them. It also provided for cuts in capital gains for small businesses, additional tax credits. All of it is designed for job growth.
My priority is going to be, how do we grow the economy? How do we create more jobs?
I think that the plan that we've put forward is the right one. But obviously over the next several weeks and months, we are going to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what's taking place in the economy as a whole. But understand the goal of my plan is to provide tax relief to families that are struggling, but also to boost the capacity of the economy to grow from the bottom up.
During his campaign, Obama said "This country is better than that." I'd like him to see to it that his answers are better than this one. It's early days yet, and I'm putting today's foomfle down to being new on the job, but I hope we don't see more of this sort of thing. Oh, and Obama very abruptly ended the press conference right after this non-answer answer. Not good. Far better for him to say simply and directly that some higher-income people will probably see their taxes raised, since they've been so heavily favored for so long in previous tax plans.
