The other part of Obama’s plan that Axelrod says we can expect from Obama is a call to extend the temporary cut in payroll taxes.  This temporary cut has been in place for about seven months, and Obama wants to extend it through 2012. 

OK .. here’s the interesting twist on this payroll tax cut.  The spin is already in the works and the ObamaMedia is helping. 

You do remember the Bush tax cuts, don’t you?  They were temporary.  They were supposed to expire after 10 years.  Same thing for the current payroll tax cut.  So what happens when the Democrats want to let the Bush tax cuts expire?  The Republicans call this a tax hike.  Tax rates will go up, so it’s a tax hike.  Pretty simple, don’t you think?  But the Democrats and the ObamaMedia said that it just ain’t so.  Allowing these temporary tax rates to expire is not a tax hike.

The Republicans are opposed to extending the temporary cut in payroll taxes.  They don’t think it is a very effective way to grow the economy.  I may not agree with the Republicans on this one, but that’s not the point.  The point is the Republicans will oppose and the Democrats will then say that the Republicans want to increase taxes on poor working people.  We’ve already had this headline “GOP may OK tax increase that Obama hopes to block.”  Now that’s pretty clever, isn’t it?  The temporary tax cut is set to expire.  The Democrats --- the same Democrats who said that ending the Bush tax cuts was NOT a tax increase --- are now saying that ending the payroll tax cut IS a tax increase, and it’s being pushed by the Republicans and Obama is trying to stop it.  That’s the spin, and you can count on the bulk of the Washington and NYC press corps to go right along with it.  The evil, dastardly Republicans will be working to protect millionaires, billionaires and corporations but not average Americans:  “It is unthinkable to me that the Republican Party would say we can’t touch — we can’t touch tax cuts for the wealthy, we can’t touch special interest corporate tax loopholes because that will hinder — hinder the economy, but we’ll allow a $1,000 tax increase on the average American come January. How could that be? The only explanation for it is politics.”  Or how about this explanation .. these temporary cuts to feed your Keynesian theories aren’t working.  They are a cop-out to the fact that the administration is too scared to propose any real reform.  In the end, are these temporary payroll tax cuts even working?

Seven months after the payroll tax relief began, the unemployment rate remains a very high 9.1% and the pace of job growth has slowed.

In December the White House touted a Deutsche Bank economic analysis predicting that the tax holiday would increase output by 0.7 percentage points and boost overall year-over-year GDP growth to 4%. They weren't even close. Instead the economy decelerated and growth in the first six months averaged 0.8%, down from 3% in 2010.

Why is the administration hanging their hat on this failed idea?  Because this idea fits into their wealth envy narrative, while real reform probably wouldn’t.  Now who is playing politics?