[Vision2020] Obama's New Attack on Those Who Don't Want Higher Taxes: ‘Selfishness’

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Obama's New Attack on Those Who Don't Want Higher Taxes: 'Selfishness'
October 31, 2008 10:58 AM

On the stump this week, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has pushed back
against Sen. John McCain's description of his tax policies.

"The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not
because I have anything against the rich," Obama said in Sarasota,
Fla., yesterday. "I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich. Go
for it. That's the American dream, that's the American way, that's
terrific.

"The point is, though, that — and it's not just charity, it's not just
that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying
to get in the middle class — it's that when we actually make sure that
everybody's got a shot — when young people can all go to college, when
everybody's got decent health care, when everybody's got a little more
money at the end of the month — then guess what? Everybody starts
spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I
can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and
services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All
boats rise. That's what happened in the 1990s, that's what we need to
restore. And that's what I'm gonna do as president of the United
States of America.

"John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic," Obama
continued. "You know I don't know when, when they decided they wanted
to make a virtue out of selfishness."

It's unclear if this was a nod to the Ayn Rand book "The Virtue of
Selfishness," with all that the invocation of Rand implies.

It would seem to be, given the themes of Rand's work, what happens
when independent achievers are demonized.

Which would fit with this description of those who want to keep their
hard-earned tax dollars as "selfish."

Atlas may not be shrugging, but Obama is.
— jpt
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obamas-new-atta.html