Talking Points Memo: Why DC’s cool kids are all wrong about the 'Buffett Rule'

“It’s total gimmickry,” said Politico Executive Editor Jim Vandehei on MSNBC Thursday. “It’s 1 percent of what you need to take care of the deficit. There’s a big danger for PresidentObama in that they become so insanely political in an insanely political culture.”

““Obama’s claim that the Buffett Rule ‘is something that will get us moving in the right direction toward fairness’ would be more convincing if he took other steps in that direction, too,” wrote Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank in a piece that also dubbed the rule “gimmicky.” “Three years into his presidency, Obama has not introduced a plan for comprehensive tax reform — arguably the most important vehicle for fixing the nation’s finances and boosting long-term economic growth.” This is exactly how Republicans want the media to treat the Buffett Rule, and, indeed, how they treat it themselves. But it’s an exceptionally obtuse and decontextualized treatment that pretends the parties aren’t at a complete impasse on tax reform, gets some of the facts wrong and misses the symbolic significance entirely.

TPM’s Brian Butler has Today’s must read, How Washington Forgot Where The ‘Buffett Rule’ Came From

In a continuing series of pieces titled “Why DC’s cool kids are all wrong about _____________________.”