9:48 PM: I guess I wasn’t the only to hear that name-check of Romney on letting the housing market bottom out?
9:50 PM: Obama: Willing to be flexible on milk spill regs.
9:55 PM: Great idea for Mitt to release his tax returns today. True stroke of genius. Because who could have predicted President Obama would make the Buffett Rule a centerpiece of his speech?
9:58 PM: Dems are usually really bad at making the simple point that all tax policy involves trade-offs. This passage got it right. Probably the best part of the speech …
We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference – like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That’s not right. Americans know it’s not right.
10:02 PM: Email just out from the Speaker’s Office …
Because the president clearly cannot run on his record, he has regrettably turned to the politics of envy and division. The “Buffett Rule” is a gimmick. We need to cut spending, not impose tax hikes that would destroy jobs.
10:09 PM: Shorter Obama: I’m looking at you, Romney
