The Difference

A comment from a TPM reader:

Obama would raise McCain's taxes by roughly $800,000; McCain would cut them by about $200,000. That's a million dollar spread. No wonder McCain is so hostile to Obama's economic agenda.

But here's what's really interesting. Obama's proposals would raise his own taxes by hundreds of thousands of dollars, in order to cut the taxes of people who are less fortunate than he is. McCain would cut his own taxes even further than they've already been reduced. And that's everything a voter needs to know about these two men.

I haven't clarified in my mind the conflicted appearance of the American public's desire for a presidential character. There's a lot of talk about whether someone is "elitist" or "rich" or "one of us". While I think a huge portion of voters may react to those ideas, I think they also tend to have a false sense of their own ability to rise above their station and are still enamored of the King/Queen, Prince/Princess idea, and that they're just as likely to install a "king". Witness George.

At any rate, I think Obama and Biden will have to be very careful about throwing out too many references to McCain's wealth, or risk turning people against them for it. They would do better to let everyone around them do that and hit hard with pictures painting the info above.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.