A FEW weeks ago my colleague made the astute observation that,
when viewing our politicians at work, we tend to put too much
weight on motivation. "When the grubby self-interest of
politicians happens to align with the public interest, we
shouldn't complain that they're acting for wrong reasons", he
wrote. "We should just be grateful that they ever find it in
themselves to do the right thing."  That's sorta how I feel
about Barack Obama's proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts for
one year on family income under $250,000. The plan would benefit
all families, by the way, not just those making under $250,000.
Families making $1m or $5m or $500m keep the tax cut too on
their first $250,000. But you get a sense of the president's
political motivations in the way he himself frames the proposal:
"I’m calling on Congress to extend the tax cuts for the 98% of
Americans who make less than $250,000 for another year." As Dan
Amira points out,  Normally, a president would want to publicize
that he's trying to cut taxes for