Obama Jabberwocky

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

(Lewis Carroll)


RE: The Obama plan to cut taxes for 95% of working families, even when a big chunk of those families pay no Federal income tax now:

It depends on what you mean by a "tax cut." Can you cut taxes to below zero?

Yes, by Obama's use of the term: When your taxes are cut to $500 below zero, the IRS sends you a check for $500.

For example, Obie wants a 10% "tax cut" for mortgage interest payers, in addition to the full deductibility now provided by the tax code. Someone who pays no Federal income tax is, you see, disadvantaged by not having any taxable income to deduct mortgage interest from. That's so unfair. So, he will get a "tax cut" so that the IRS can send him a check instead.

Obama is pushing for a radical expansion of the Negative Income Tax concept. It will open the spending floodgates, with income redistribution like we've never seen, or even contemplated.

Obama is very slick with words. He gives new meanings to old words.

Most people use the term "investment" not to mean spending in general, but only spending for a future return, rather than immediate consumption. But Obama's rhetoric seems to define virtually all government spending as "investment." It's always a matter of "investing" in the children, in infrastructure, in people's health, in our families, in something or other. It's never passing out goodies, it's always "investing." It's as if government never consumes any money, but only invests it. Who can be against investment? Investment is good. Let's invest more! Maybe only spending on the military is wasteful consumption...

The latest rhetorical flair from BO is to call a check you get from the government a "tax cut." The fact that you paid no taxes to begin with doesn't matter, it's still a "tax cut." John McCain is famously for tax cuts -- but now so is Obama! It's just that McCain's tax cuts mean that people will be sending less money to the government, and that's a bad, selfish tax cut. But Obama's tax cuts mean the government will be sending out checks, and that's "investing"! Tax cuts and investing, all in one swoop. Magic Man!

All this goes beyond the usual political smoke and mirrors. Obama seems determined to screw up the language so completely that meaningful discourse becomes impossible. It will be hard to argue these matters, because no one will know exactly how the terms are being used. Or it will take so long that the audience will get bored and go home. Obama's new meanings, of course, always make increased government spending and income redistribution sound desirable.

Years from now, pundits will look back at Obama's campaign and admit 'Twas brillig, though plenty slithy.