Spring is the most idyllic time in Washington, D.C. It is marked by not only the blossoming of the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin, but also the greening of the grass and trees along the Mall as an influx of awestruck high school students and tourists circulate amid the museums, memorials and monuments that dominate the landscape. However, this year an unusual scent has permeated the atmosphere; it is the air of desperation emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This has not been a spring of promise and renewal for the Obama administration; rather, it has been one of threadbare political tactics and demagoguery dying on the vine and the reality of three years of Barack Obama taking root in the American consciousness.

A centerpiece of Obama's re-election strategy is class warfare personified by the promotion of the Buffett Rule -- legislation to compel Americans earning $1 million or more annually to pay a minimum 30% in income taxes regardless of the income source.

Last September the president claimed that this tax was needed to "stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade." However, it turned out that the total amount of revenue raised by this tax over the next ten years was a mere $46 billion, while the projected deficits in the Obama ten year budget would amount to more than $9,600 billion.

Undeterred, Obama next claimed the Buffett Rule necessary, as it is "about growth...about being able to make investments we need to strengthen the economy and create jobs." As the stimulus -- which passed in February of 2009, amounting to nearly $900 billion -- did absolutely nothing except enrich Democratic Party allies, what are the odds that $46 billion over ten years will accomplish anything?

Finally, the Obama administration was forced to admit that the proposed tax was simply a campaign ploy under the guise of "fairness" even though the less than two tenths of one percent of all tax filers this proposal would affect pay nearly 21% of all income tax revenues. The proposal was eventually shot down in the Senate, as the transparency of Obama's cynicism was there for all to see.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/obamas_springtime_of_discontent.html#ixzz1sqQfnfHj