Obama Seeking to Paint Romney as Villain
By Trevor Williams
"They don't get us." Those were the words of Vice President Joe Biden at a campaign stop in Youngstown, Ohio last week.
On the surface, it may seem as though Biden was speaking in reference to Republicans and their presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The group that Biden was targeting with his sanctimonious and belittling rhetoric, however, is one that this administration has sought to vilify and attack more than any other: rich people.
Biden's remarks came on the heels of the Obama campaign releasing a new television ad entitled "Steel," which assails Romney for his time as chief executive of Bain Capital, a private equity firm.
Romney's campaign is running largely on the experience and record he accrued during his time working in the private sector. Romney's net worth - well above $200 million - can be attributed in large part to his time at Bain, and it has become the mission of President Obama and his drones to use this against him.
The president's campaign is seeking to portray Romney as a corporate raider of sorts, a greedy executive that sought only to increase the wealth of his rich investors, destroying hundreds of middle-class jobs while he ran away with the money. Never mind the fact that the largest investors in private equity firms are institutional investors - pension funds and university endowments - it takes away from the false narrative the president is so keen to promote.
The president's lambasting of private equity is not only hypocritical - a 60-person, $35,800-per-plate fundraiser for Obama was held at the New York home of Tony Hamilton, president of Blackstone, the nation's biggest (you guessed it!) private equity firm - but unappealing to fellow Democrats as well.
On Sunday's "Meet the Press," Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker, a prominent figure in the Democratic Party, described the attacks on private equity by the Obama camp as "nauseating." Not exactly what you would call a ringing endorsement of the president's tactics.
In the same speech, our oft-unhinged and loose-lipped vice president gave his best Howard Dean impersonation, screaming, "My parents dreamed as much as any rich guy!" yet another moment in the unrelenting assault on wealthy Americans by the current administration.
We have all been subject to the president preaching how "everyone needs to pay their fair share,"I couldn't agree more. The problem for the president is, the people who are the target of this intellectually hollow barb, already are.
President Obama has decided to ignore the fact that the top 1 percent of earners are responsible for 40 percent of all income tax, despite earning 20 percent of the wealth.
In our own fiscally discombobulated state of California, the richest 1 percent pays 38 percent of state income tax, despite earning only 18 percent of the income. As a nation, we rely on the top 10 percent of income earners more than any other nation in the world.
We've also seen the president parade around to garner support for the Buffett Rule, a piece of legislation mandating that everyone who earns over $1 million annually pay their federal taxes at a rate no less than 30 percent, a measure that is estimated to only affect 4,000 Americans. The Buffet Rule, a fine example of the president's political acumen, would generate just $4.7 billion in annual revenue over the next 10 years, an inconsequential sum.
While it is not surprising to see a president opt for politics in lieu of producing relevant legislation, it is offensive when the motives for such actions are guised as a moral imperative rooted in the Obaman myth of "fairness."
In front of the Youngstown, Ohio crowd, Joe Biden said, "I resent the fact that they think we're talking about, we're envy." You're right, Joe, it's not envy. It's flat-out disdainful.
Trevor Williams is a junior political science major.