The Occasional Observer

Part of Obama's budget proposal that is meeting huge resistance, including from Dems, is the plan to cap the amount that earners in the top two brackets can deduct to 28%. This would, for example, limit the tax benefit of charitable donations from the wealthiest in our country who give the most.

This proposal from Obama is, on the face of it, so stupid and absurd that I have to wonder if it is a legitimate point of contention between Obama and Congress, or a gimmick? That is, did he throw a few items like that into the budget that he knew were absurd and never really wanted, such that he could then "concede" to take them out and appear like he is a true compromiser and willing to be bipartisan? Or does he really want them included? As hypocrisy grows between what he pledged on the campaign trail (e.g., no earmarks and line-by-line budget analysis) vs. reality (spending bill with thousands of earmarks he is unwilling to veto), I'm skeptical. I think he will concede to remove this limitation, but it was nothing more than a gimmick all along.